MARY   S.   VANDERBILT 


Mary  S.  Vanderbilt 


A 

Twentieth  Century 
Seer 

BY 

VJ 

M.  E.  CADWALLADER 


"I  have  found  Spiritualism  a  good  thing  to  live 
by,  and  I  have  come  pretty  close  to  finding  it  a 
good  thing  to  die  by." — M.  S.  Vanderbilt. 


The  Progressive  Thinker  Publishing  House 

1 06  Loomis  Street 

Chicago,  111. 


Copyright 

M.  E.  Cadwallader 

1921 


S.  DanberbUt 


"Oh  spirit  rare !    Who  guided  us  so  long, 

Along  the  rough  and  stony  paths  of  life 
Who  hushed  our  fears,  and  taught  us  right  from  wrong, 
Who  dried  our  tears,  and  helped  us  bear  our  strife." 

"Speak  to  us  now,  and  tell  us  it  is  best 

That  thou  shouldst  leave  us,  whom  we  love  so  much. 
Help  us  to  bridge  the  space  that  lies  between, 
And  give  us  strength  and  faith  to  feel  thy  touch." 

"Thou  who  hast  never  failed,  we  miss  thee  so, 

Lend  now  thy  hand  to  help  us  bear  the  blow. 
Speak  out  thy  message  ever  clear,  that  we 

May  still,  from  thee,  God's  wondrous  wisdom  know.'1 

EARL  WHITCOMB  CARTER. 
April  30,  1919.    Camp  Devens,  Mass. 


111 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

It  is  fitting  to  preserve  for  posterity  a  record  of  some 
of  the  achievements  of  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  but  to 
attempt  to  glean  even  a  tithe  of  the  work  of  this  mar- 
velous medium  and  seer  of  the  twentieth  century  would 
mean  to  give  a  history  of  the  Spiritualist  Movement,  so 
closely  was  she  identified  with  it  in  New  England  espe- 
cially, her  chosen  field.  We  have  had  to  depend  upon 
incomplete  transcripts  gleaned  here  and  there  from  the 
newspaper  accounts  which  inadequately  record  a  meagre 
idea  of  what  was  accomplished  through  the  mediumship 
of  this  gifted  seer.  The  preparation  of  this  volume  was 
the  labor  of  love — of  one  to  whom  the  friendship  of  Mrs. 
Vanderbilt  was  a  rare  boon — and  whose  appreciation  of 
her  mediumistic  gifts  was  second  to  none. 

We  trust  the  reader  will  appreciate  the  difficulties  sur- 
rounding the  preparation  of  this  memorial  book,  collated 
as  it  was  from  so  many  sources. 

May  it  prove  an  inspiration  to  sorrowing  hearts  as  it 
goes  forth  on  its  mission  of  love. 

M,  E,  CAPWALLADER. 


VI 


Joreworb 


WHEN  THE  DAWNING  LIGHT  OF  REASON  BREAKS 
UPON  US  WE  SHALL  KNOW,  THAT  IN  EVERY 
AGE   WE   HAVE   HAD   OUR   GREAT   TEACHERS 
AND    SAVIOURS    WHO,    LIKE    JESUS,    GAVE    THEIR 
LIVES  THAT  HUMANITY  MIGHT  HAVE  THE  TRUTH, 
AND  THROUGH  THAT  KNOWLEDGE  REACH  GREATER 
HEIGHTS  OF  SPIRITUAL  UNFOLDMENT. 

IN  THE  GREAT  STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  LIGHT  AND 
DARKNESS,  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT  STOOD  AS  A 
LIGHTHOUSE,  GUIDING  SOULS  TO  THAT  HARBOR  OF 
TRUTH,  WHERE  THEY  MIGHT  FIND  THE  GLORIOUS 
KNOWLEDGE  THAT  THEIR  LOVED  ONES,  WHO 
SEEMINGLY  HAD  DIED,  STILL  LIVED  AND  LOVED, 
AND  SHE,  LIKE  ALL  GREAT  SOULS,  LAID  HER  ALL 
UPON  THE  ALTAR  OF  TRUTH. 

IN  THE  NAME  OF  THAT  GREAT  TRUTH  WHICH  SHE 
TAUGHT,  THIS  BOOK  IS  DEDICATED  TO  ALL  HU- 
MANITY, BY  ONE  TO  WHOM  SHE  OPENED  THE  GATES 
OF  THAT  SPIRITUAL  WORLD,  AND  BROUGHT  THE 
MESSAGE  OF  THE  ANGELS. 

LOVING  SERVICE  IS  THE  ONLY  ACCEPTABLE  WOR- 
SHIP, AND  LABOR  THE  ONLY  EFFECTIVE  PRAYER. 

SINCERELY, 

WARREN  R.  FALES. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  OUTLINE 

Mary  Scannell  Pepper  Vanderbilt  began  her  public 
work  in  1895,  as  a  bearer  of  platform  messages,  but 
since  her  girlhood  she  had  been  holding  private  test 
seances.  Inspirational  speaking  was  an  added  phase 
of  her  later  development.  .  Her  especial  field  of  activity 
was  in  New  England,  but  she  appeared  often  in  New 
York,  Philadelphia  and  Washington,  and  at  conven- 
tions of  the  National  Spiritualists'  Association.  A 
conspicuous  part  of  her  work  at  the  Spiritualist  Camps 
was  executive  as  well  as  psychic.  Up  to  the  time  of 
her  transition  she  had  functioned  as  president  of  Lake 
Pleasant  camp  in  Massachusetts  five  years,  and  ten  years 
at  Camp  Etna  in  Maine. 

From  1904  until  1906  (inclusive)  she  officiated  in  the 
pastorate  of  the  First  Spiritual  Church  of  Brooklyn. 
Late  in  1906,  by  request  of  the  Czar,  she  went  to  Russia 
and  held  several  seances  with  the  imperial  family,  and 
afterward  appeared  in  several  European  capitals. 

In  1907  she  became  the  wife  of  Edward  W.  Vander- 
bilt. This  marriage  was  a  happy  one. 

With  the  sympathy  and  co-operation  of  her  husband 
and  the  mental  relaxation  which  the  sanctuary  of  the 
home  life  afforded  her,  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  was  enabled  to 
carry  her  unfoldment  to  a  point  even  further  than  she 
had  hitherto  done.  The  last  years  of  her  life  testified  to 
the  enhancement  of  her  gifts,  not  to  their  wanings.  She 
identified  herself  more  effectively  than  ever  with  camp 
work. 

Her  final  illness  was  brief.  She  passed  out  April  27, 
1919,  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  after  an  operation  that 
failed  to  counteract  the  conditions.  In  accordance  with 
her  request,  her  ashes  were  interred  at  Camp  Etna. 


vn 


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Mary  S.  Vanderbilt 

CHAPTER  I. 
DAWNING  MEDIUMSHIP 

In  the  evolution  of  the  race  toward  a  higher  state  there 
comes  to  us,  in  hours  of  greatest  need,  someone  who,  out 
of  life's  seeming  darkness,  shines  forth  among  his  fellow 
men  as  a  prophet  of  a  new  dispensation. 

For  ages,  man  sought  to  come  into  communication  with 
invisible,  mysterious  forces,  beyond  his  power  to  com- 
mand or  comprehend.  The  history  of  civilization  is 
marked  by  spiritual  phenomena,  but  it  was  left  for 
Modern  Spiritualism  to  give  the  world  a  conscious  knowl- 
edge of  the  spirit  world  and  its  inhabitants  through  the 
seers  of  modern  times.. 

Andrew  Jackson  Davis  is  recognized  as  the  John  the 
Baptist  of  Modern  Spiritualism.  Since  "the  Rochester 
rappings"  in  the  Hydesville  cottage  on  March  31,  1848, 
through  the  mediumship  of  the  Fox  Sisters,  many  media 
have  given  proof  of  the  stupendous  message,  "There  are 
no  dead" ;  but  of  all  these  there  was  none  who  in  the  de- 
velopment of  mediumship  surpassed  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt. 

On  May  7,  1867,  in  a  community  called  "Happy 
Hollow,"  in  West  Mansfield,  Mass.,  a  girl  child  was  born 
to  Richard  and  Bridget  Scannell.  Did  the  little  one,  then 
first  gazing  into  this  life,  give  any  token  of  the  strenuous 
career  she  was  to  follow,  blazing  the  way  for  others? 
Was  there  one  who  dreamed  that  the  child  in  that  cradle 
was  destined  to  be  a  Revealer,  a  Prophet  and  a  Seer? 


2  ,MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

Many  of  us,  if  we  could  peer  into  the  future,  would 
shrink  from  taking  up  the  cross  and  following  the  vision. 
Could  that  little  one  have  been  vouchsafed  a  knowledge 
of  her  future,  well  might  she  have  cried  out,  "Father, 
let  this  cup  pass  from  me !" 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  says  that  every  talent  some- 
where reaches  its  apotheses.  This  is  a  truth,  but  it  is 
stated  in  cloudy  terms.  For  talent  is  an  instrument 
through  which  a  power  is  expressed,  and  power  itself 
is  only  an  attribute  of  faculty,  which  in  turn  is  an  at- 
tribute of  the  soul ;  and  back  of  the  soul  is  the  spirit,  the 
part  that  cannot  die,  that  must  go  on  forever.  It  is 
Spirit  that  maintains  eternal  contact  with  the  universe 
of  reality,  but  often  enough  the  instrument,  in  its  earlier 
time  of  use,  is  hard  to  bring  into  fluent  melody.  It  was 
so  with  Mary  Pepper  Vanderbilt  when  first  her  powers 
began  to  urge  for  expression,  while  yet  she  was  a  child. 
But  what  a  full  and  flowing  harmony  her  later  years 
poured  forth ! 

Since  in  our  western  civilization  psychic  powers  have 
as  yet  been  given  slight  culture,  it  cannot  be  claimed  that 
modern  psychical  manifestation  has  been  brought  to  com- 
pletion; but  in  the  development  of  her  mental  medium- 
ship  Mary  Pepper  Vanderbilt  reached  a  place  high  up 
along — 

The  world's  great  altar  stairs, 
That  slope  through  darkness  toward  God. 
To  honor  her  achievements  is  to  choose  a  garland 
more  significant  than  could  be  bestowed  for  a  like  pro- 
gression in  any  other  human  possibility;  for  her  upward 
course  followed  a  trail  not  only  disapproved,  but  actually 
condemned.  A  hard  trail  to  travel,  which  called  for  a 
degree  of  perseverance  greater  and  more  determined 
than  that  required  for  triumphant  effort  in  any  industry 
or  art.  Her  unwavering  resolution  might  rather  be 
likened  to  that  of  a  great  leader,  a  standard  bearer,  a 
pioneer. 


DAWNING  MEDIUMSHIP  3 

West  Mansfield  was  (and  is)  a  small  place,  dating 
back  to  early  colonial  days.  The  people  there  still 
retain  the  colonial  state  of  mind,  especially  in  matters 
touching  religion — the  parochial  mind,  narrow,  hard,  cling- 
ing to  outworn  creeds,  to  shriveled  ethics,  rigidly  shutting 
its  eyes  to  any  new  light,  hostile  to  all  evidence  of  the 
truth  that  they  themselves  proclaimed  by  rote  but  could 
not  prove — that  man  must  die,  but  spirit  is  immortal. 

No  thought  touching  Spiritualism  lit  the  religious 
ideas  of  her  parents.  The  influence  of  Romanism  and 
Methodism  was  present,  but  only  insofar  as  it  could 
find  its  way  through  the  interstices  of  workaday  lives. 
Then,  when  she  was  barely  past  babyhood,  came  an  event 
that  had  potent  effect  upon  her  spiritual  future.  The 
mother  of  the  family  was  summoned  to  the  life  beyond. 

Those  reading  these  lines,  who  already  are  Spiritual- 
ists, need  not  be  reminded  that  upon  release  from  the 
bonds  of  flesh,  affection  revives  and  expands ;  that  loving 
thoughts  entwine  between  us  and  our  so-called  dead; 
that  they  bring  us  closer  to  a  plane  of  higher  expression, 
so  that  we  are  at  times  prepared  to  receive,  along  these 
tendrils,  some  vibratory,  conscious  thrill  from  the  heights. 
So  when  this  New  England  child,  early  deprived  of  the 
physical  presence  of  her  best  friend,  began  in  timid 
bewilderment  to  contact  the  realization  of  spirit  com- 
munion, her  arisen  mother  was  one  of  the  first  to  reach 
across  the  sundering  interval. 

An  aunt  had  taken  the  little  girl  into  her  care;  and 
childhood  years  passed  by.  Her  first  great  psychic  ex- 
perience came  when  she  was  fifteen. 

With  her  foster-mother  she  had  gone  to  visit  friends 
at  Narragansett.  The  fact  that  these  people  were  Spirit- 
ualists was  unknown  to  them.  No  allusion  to  it  was 
made  until  after  the  occurrence  which  first  indicated  that 
she  had  mediumistic  power.  A  newspaper  interview  in 
The  Lcwiston  Journal  in  1908  gives  her  own  account 
of  what  then  took  place: 


4  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

"I  had  retired,  but  still  was  wide  awake.  I  became 
aware  of  a  human  form  in  the  room,  near  the  bed.  .  .  . 
There  was  something  about  it  that  differed  from  the 
persons  I  knew  .  .  .  and  I  screamed. 

"When  I  described  the  person  I  had  seen,  the  family 
there  said  I  had  described  one  of  their  relatives,  who  had 
died — a  person  I  never  had  seen,  nor  even  heard  of." 

The  members  of  this  household  were  accustomed  to 
receiving  spirit  messages  by  means  of  table-tipping. 
They  knew  no  other  way. 

They  had  not  long  been  seated  around  the  table  when 
tremulously,  hesitatingly,  yet  clearly,  the  name  of  Mary's 
mother  was  spelled  out,  letter  by  letter.  Thus  it  was 
made  out  that  the  spirit  of  a  little  Indian  girl,  Bright 
Eyes,  desired  to  control  her.  The  spirit  requested  that 
Mary  remain  in  that  home  three  months,  to  receive  de- 
velopment. 

All  this  was  incomprehensible  and  unwelcome — to  the 
young  prospective  medium.  The  idea  failed  to  impress 
her.  Farther,  she  vigorously  declared  she  would  not 
remain  one  hour  beyond  the  time  when  her  aunt  must 
leave  for  home. 

The  Society  for  Psychical  Research  once  gave  its 
opinion  that  of  all  the  people  not  more  than  one-fourth 
of  one  per  cent,  that  is,  one  individual  out  of  each  four 
hundred,  receive  definite  psychic  manifestations;  and 
this  opinion  was  derived  from  a  broad  and  comprehensive 
survey.  But  whether  psychic  faculty  comes  to  the  sur- 
face with  many  or  with  few,  it  is  certain  that  in  rare 
instances  spirit  co-operation  does  at  times  impart  psychic 
impulses  toward  unusual  psychic  activity,  often  invol- 
untary, quite  apart  from  the  individual's  conscious  in- 
tent or  desire.  Thus  when  the  time  came  for  the  aunt 
to  leave  the  house  where  Mary  had  her  startling  vision 
of  a  spirit,  Mary  herself,  in  the  face  of  her  former 
obstinacy,  could  not  be  persuaded  to  go.  She  remained 


DAWNING  MEDIUMSHIP  5 

there  three  months,  just  as  the  spirit  guides  had  asked, 
held  by  some  vague  but  unescapable  compulsion — pressed 
into  service  by  the  spirit  forces.  There  was  no  exhibi- 
tion of  poltergeist  power — no  violent  demonstration  of 
an  external  will.  Psychical  science  holds  no  more  likable 
record  of  kindly  spirit  persuasion  and  guidance. 

Nor  do  the  annals  of  psychic  accomplishment  any- 
where offer  a  spirit  control  more  remarkable  than  the 
Indian  child,  Bright  Eyes — inseparable  from  her  chosen 
instrument  through  thirty-four  years,  constant  in  service 
from  her  first  manifestation  to  the  close  of  Mrs.  Van- 
derbilt's  earth  life,  and  thought  of  whenever  Mrs.  Van- 
derbilt's  name  is  mentioned.  Mediumship  is  always  the 
result  of  concerted  action  by  a  number  of  spirits,  some 
of  them  reserving  the  right  to  obscurity,  preferring  to 
operate  unnamed  or  even  unannounced.  That  Bright 
Eyes  was  so  assisted,  there  is  no  doubt  or  question;  but 
Bright  Eyes  herself,  not  far  removed  nor  long  gone  from 
physical  conditions,  was  able  to  meet  and  to  deal  under- 
standingly  with  earthly  ambitions,  longings,  fears,  heart- 
aches; lo  bring  from  more  advanced  souls  in  calmer 
realms,  some  touch  of  solace  into  the  stir  and  sorrows  of 
earth. 

During  her  girlhood,  Mary  Scannell's  psychic  devel- 
opment was  comparatively  slow.  School  occupied  her 
attention,  home  duties  intervened.  When  she  reached 
womanhood,  she  took  employment  at  a  neighboring 
farmhouse,  where  she  aided  in  domestic  tasks.  In  that 
part  of  the  country  this  involved  no  social  derogation  then, 
nor  would  it  now.  In  later  life,  when  fame  brought 
laurels,  when  wedded  happiness  became  her  portion, 
when  affluence  sheltered  and  royalty  sought  her,  she  was 
not  ashamed  to  speak  of  the  occupations  of  those  hum- 
bler days.  Nor  did  she  ever  attempt  to  conceal  the  fact 
that  her  first  marriage — with  George  Pepper — resulted 
so  unfortunately  that  she  found  herself  obliged  to  divorce 
him.  Bearing  the  name  of  one  who  might  have  dragged 


6  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

her  down,  she  raised  it  into  wide  renown  among  all  who 
are  sufficiently  evolved  to  realize  how  high  is  the  station 
of  those  who  demonstrate  the  truth  of  spirit  communion, 
that  supreme  blessing  in  the  gift  of  Infinite  Wisdom. 

Through  all  those  uphill  earlier  years  the  band  of 
spirit  workers  remained  faithful,  Bright  Eyes  continuing 
as  the  best  known  control.  During  this  term  the  little 
Indian  spirit  was  merely  an  untaught  child.  In  the  first 
six  years  of  mediumship  no  platform  work  was  under- 
taken, though  private  seances  and  tests  were  attempted. 
When  her  first  public  seances  were  given,  the  messages 
were  voiced  in  what  a  newspaper  account  described  as 
"a  curious  dialect,  half  African,  half  Indian,  and  wholly 
ungrammatical,  but  spoken  with  great  fluency.  'You 
squaw  in  de  corner/  she  would  say,  'I  know  you  wants 
I  to  speak  to  you  awful  bad.  You  don't  feel  half  as 
shiny  as  you  pretends  you  does/  which  meant  that  the 
woman  addressed  concealed  some  secret  care." 

In  order  to  perfect  the  manner  of  Bright  Eyes'  de- 
livery, ex- Judge  Abram  H.  Dailey,  formerly  of  the 
Surrogate  Court  of  New  York,  lent  his  efforts.  For  a 
considerable  time  he  had  Mrs.  Pepper  keep  appointed 
hours  at  his  offices,  upon  which  occasions  the  attempt 
was  made  to  aid  the  spirit  control  in  shaping  grammat- 
ical sentences  of  well  pronounced  words.  That  the  as- 
sistance of  this  generous  hearted  and  scholarly  man  was 
effective  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  in  later  years  Mrs. 
Pepper's  platform  utterances  were  not  only  free  from 
jargon,  but  were  formed  in  flawless  English. 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  had  another  valuable  helper  who  per- 
formed the  office,  also  of  a  kind  and  beneficent  father — 
Dr.  H.  B.  Storer.  He  often  served  as  the  antidote  to 
harmonize  the  discords  which  sometimes  fall  to  the  lot 
of  the  spiritual  worker,  when  those  whom  she  seeks  to 
uplift  turn  and  rend  her.  The  world  always  stones  its 
prophets  and  crucifies  its  saviors. 


DAWNING  MEDIUMSHIP  7 

Dr.  Storer  lived  a  long  and  exemplary  life  while  his 
kind  deeds  and  inestimable  assistance  to  the  beginners  in 
our  ranks  as  to  the  experienced  workers,  also  richly 
blessed  Mrs.  Vanderbilt.  He  was  a  deep  scholar,  a  fine 
orator  and  lived  his  religion  of  Spiritualism.  For  many 
years  he  was  the  highly  esteemed  president  of  Onset 
Camp,  and  was  also  deeply  interested  in  the  camp  at 
Harwich.  In  gratitude  for  all  she  had  received  from 
him,  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  said,  on  one  occasion,  that  she 
should  always  officiate  at  Harwich  every  season,  while 
she  lived,  a  promise  which  she  strictly  fulfilled. 

It  was  evidently  a  part  of  the  divine  plan  that  these 
two  stalwart  gifted  men,  on  both  the  legal  and  spiritual 
planes,  should  be  raised  up  to  better  fit  this  brilliant  but 
untrained  woman  in  her  worthy  efforts  to  comfort,  in- 
struct and  uplift  the  world.  Dr.  Storer  well  deserves  a 
longer,  fuller  tribute,  but  we  are  only  now  considering 
his  share  in  the  success  and  power  of  the  life  record  of 
this  gifted  soul. 

Bright  Eyes  as  a  personality  possessed  exceptional 
interest  because  she  was  able  to  identify  herself  in  the 
memory  of  so  many  people.  Living  to  about  the  age  of 
ten  or  twelve  years,  she  had  been  taken  about  in  the 
West  by  her  parents,  who  were  Kickapoo  Indians,  and 
she  had  met  many  travelers. 

When  she  had  been  serving  as  Mrs.  Pepper's  control 
possibly  a  dozen  years,  she  was  given  an  opportunity  to 
prove  her  identity  in  a  manner  probably  unsurpassed  in 
the  history  of  Spiritualism. 

During  a  public  seance  in  New  Bedford,  a  man  in 
the  audience,  a  disbeliever  in  Spiritualism,  who  had  been 
induced  to  attend  the  meeting  somewhat  against  his  in- 
clination, was  greeted  by  Bright  Eyes  as  a  former  ac- 
quaintance. 

"Why,  hello,  Mr.  So-and-So,"  called  she,  in  evident 
delight. 

The  individual   so  addressed  declared   that  he  knew 


8  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

nothing  about  the  spirit.  Bright  Eyes  was  not  to  be  thus 
deterred. 

"Yes,  you  do,"  she  insisted.  "You  got  my  picture — 
you  took  my  picture — "  and  she  proceeded  to  give  details 
as  to  how  and  when,  away  out  West,  this  gentleman 
(who  was  a  photographer)  had  taken  the  picture  of 
herself,  a  small  Indian  girl. 

The  photographer  upon  his  return  home  searched 
through  his  negatives.  To  his  amazement  and  conversion, 
he  found  the  one  which  Bright  Eyes  had  indicated! 

Perhaps  there  was  no  treasure  dearer  to  Mrs.  Vander- 
bilt  than  the  little  photograph,  developed  from  that  neg- 
ative, which  the  photographer  presented  to  her  and  which 
she  wore  in  a  locket.  All  the  facts  in  this  wonderful 
test  of  spirit  identity  were  easily  verifiable.  Elizabeth 
Harlow  Goetz,  the  well-known  lecturer  upon  Spiritual- 
ism, relates  that  she  was  present  as  a  speaker  at  the  New 
Bedford  meeting  when  Bright  Eyes  discovered  in  the 
audience  the  photographer  who,  years  before  and  in  a 
distant  part  of  the  country,  had  taken  her  picture. 

Mrs.  Goetz,  from  1895  to  1898,  was  closely  associated 
with  Mrs.  Pepper,  giving  inspirational  lectures  at  which 
Mrs.  Pepper  delivered  platform  messages  in  many  cities 
of  New  England.  She  relates  a  story  of  how  when  the 
two  were  filling  an  engagement  in  Boston,  they  lost  their 
way  in  the  streets — those  streets  which  simply  overlay 
the  original  cow-paths  worn  in  the  days  of  early  settle- 
ment. Probably  everyone  who  has  visited  Boston  has 
been  similarly  confused,  but  these  two  bewildered  ones 
had  no  need  to  seek  assistance  from  mortals.  Bright 
Eyes  took  the  case  in  hand,  and  directed  them  safely  to 
the  house  where  they  were  stopping — a  manifestation 
deeply  impressed  upon  Mrs.  Goetz's  memory. 

The  message-bearing  work  of  Mrs.  Pepper  antedated 
by  a  number  of  years  her  inspirational  speaking,  the 
latter  phase  naturally  proceeding  from  the  influence  of 
different  controlling  mentalities.  The  following  remin- 


BRIGHT    EYES 


DAWNING  MEDIUMSHIP  9 

iscence,  illustrating  the  early  longing  of  this  medium  for 
the  success  in  oratory  which  she  later  achieved,  is  quoted 
from  an  article  by  Mrs.  Mary  T.  Longley,  as  printed  in 
The  Progressive  Thinker,  July  19,  1919: 

"Knowing  her  well  in  her  very  first  days  of  spiritual 
work,  I  realized  even  in  that  early  time  that  she  pos- 
sessed wonderful  powers  of  mediumship  and  of  useful- 
ness to  the  world.  Like  all  newcomers  and  fledglings  in 
mediumship,  she  had  moments  of  depression  concerning 
her  calling  and  her  gifts,  and  it  was  the  part  of  some  of 
the  older  workers  to  soothe,  encourage  and  revivify  her 
drooping  spirits  by  their  words  of  approval  and  prophecy 
of  her  work. 

"I  remember  on  one  occasion,  on  a  Sunday  at  Lake 
Pleasant,  a  group  of  us  were  gathered  at  a  hotel  dining 
table,  chatting  in  friendliness.  May  seemed  much  per- 
turbed over  the  prospect  of  her  appearance  on  the  plat- 
form at  the  afternoon  service.  We  had  just  listened  to 
a  grand  lecture  by  one  of  the  noted  speakers  of  the  time, 
and  this  simple,  sensitive  girl  felt  that  her  work  of  the 
day  would  be  entirely  overshadowed  because  of  what 
had  gone  before.  We  assured  her  that  she  would  fill 
her  part  gloriously,  and  that  her  splendid  message  work 
— of  which  the  public  never  could  get  enough — was  far 
more  likely  to  eclipse  the  discourses  in  the  public  eye 
than  the  contrary. 

"Comforted  a  bit,  she  said  she  would  be  satisfied  if 
she  could  only  be  influenced  by  good  spirits  to  lecture  on 
the  platform  instead  of  being  just  a  medium.  At  this 
juncture  Mrs.  Carrie  L.  Hatch,  of  Boston,  spoke  in  a  con- 
vincing voice,  saying:  'May,  don't  worry.  The  time 
will  come,  and  in  a  very  few  years,  when  your  guides 
will  be  giving  good  lectures  through  your  organism,  on 
the  platform  here  and  in  many  places,  and  you  will  give 
messages  too.' 


10  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

"  'Oh,  no,'  said  May,  'I  am  not  the  kind  of  medium  for 
lecture  work.' 

"  'You  are,  and  I  know  you  will  be  in  it  some  day, 
and  not  lose  your  other  powers  either,'  asserted  Mrs. 
Hatch. 

"We  all  felt  convinced  the  prediction  would  be  verified, 
as  it  was  later,  under  the  guidance  of  her  spirit  band 
and  with  the  encouragement  and  help  of  Judge  Dailey, 
of  Brooklyn,  who  believed  in  her  possibilities  of  inspir- 
ation, and  that  they  could  be  developed." 


CHAPTER  II. 
IN  MANY  FIELDS 

The  message  work  of  Mary  Vanderbilt  at  all  times 
possessed  certain  outstanding  attributes:  concise,  spark- 
ling, pointed,  an  undercurrent  of  kindliness  forever 
streamed  beneath  it.  Bright  Eyes  spoke  her  way  into 
people's  affections;  other  spirit  guides  inspired  the  me- 
dium through  addresses  and  lectures  to  enkindle  their 
intellects.  New  England  was  the  especial  acreage  for  the 
sowing  of  this  spiritual  as  seed.  In  every  town  within 
its  boundaries  can  be  found  those  who  think  of  Mary 
Vanderbilt  as  one  who  touched  their  gray  lives  with 
dawn,  and  cleared  and  clouded  waters  of  their  souls  into 
crystal. 

Beyond  the  borders  of  this  home  country,  however,  she 
often  carried  the  colors  of  Spiritualism.  At  its  yearly 
conventions  the  National  Spiritualists'  Association  was 
proud  to  enlist  such  mediumship  as  hers  as  representative 
of  the  loftiest  ideals  of  its  organization.  During  the 
presidency  of  Harrison  D.  Barrett,  this  Association  ap- 
pointed Mrs.  Pepper  as  one  of  its  State  agents  to  promote 
the  best  interests  of  true  Spiritualism. 

Time  and  again  she  served  great  crowds  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  The  people  of  Washington  were  privileged 
to  listen  to  her  demonstrations.  Her  effective  meetings, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  First  Spiritual  Church  of 
Brooklyn,  are  particularized  herein  in  a  subsequent  chap- 
ter. Crowned  heads  summoned  her  from  foreign  lands. 

11 


12  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

But  from  such  excursions  afar,  Mary  Vanderbilt  re- 
turned to  favor  New  England  with  her  efforts.  Even 
when  in  later  life  the  city  of  Brooklyn  became  her  place 
of  residence,  she  had  no  idea  of  circumscribing  her  sphere 
to  include  Brooklyn  alone;  the  opportunity  to  seclude 
herself  in  luxury,  which  came  to  her  with  her  second  mar- 
riage, did  not  deter  her  from  going  steadily  forward  with 
her  public  work;  and  she  did  not  neglect  her  beloved 
New  England. 

To  chronicle  completely  her  activities  from  the  com- 
mencement of  her  platform  work,  is  not  possible.  Here 
a  newspaper  account,  brought  out  under  impulse  of  her 
gift — yonder  a  letter,  bespeaking  a  gratitude  deeper  than 
gold  can  repay  or  demand — such  have  been  chosen  for 
presentation  here,  to  indicate  in  some  measure  the  harvest 
of  her  middle  years. 

* 

The  appended  letter  bears  a  New  York  headline,  dated 
1898: 

"Believing  it  is  a  duty  I  owe  to  myself  and  to  you,  as 
well  as  to  those  in  search  of  spiritual  truth,  I  send  you  a 
written  statement  of  the  fulfillment  of  a  very  remarkable 
prophecy  Bright  Eyes  made  for  me  when  you  were  here 
last  spring  at  Judge  Dailey's. 

"I  have  for  many  years  been  engaged  in  mercantile 
trade  in  New  York  without  even  a  reasonable  hope  of 
making  a  radical  change,  but  you  told  me  that  before  this 
year  was  out  I  would  be  engaged  in  the  life  insurance 
business. 

"I  certainly  did  not  think  it  possible  that  such  could  be 
the  case.  I  plainly  told  Bright  Eyes  she  was  surely  mis- 
taken. She  said  to  me,  'You  wait  and  see/  and  greatly 
to  my  surprise  this  is  the  third  week  I  have  been  engaged 
in  a  very  new  enterprise — life  insurance — and  I  have 
been  successful  also,  as  you  told  me  it  would  be  from 
the  start. 


IN  MANY  FIELDS  13 

"I  desire  to  say  that  you  are  the  first  and  only  person  I 
have  ever  known  to  foretell  so  perfectly  the  coming  of 
such  an  unexpected  event.  Other  things  of  very  great 
interest  to  me  you  have  foretold  with  equal  correctness, 
so  that  it  seems  absolutely  certain  to  me  that  your  spirit 
control  can  not  only  see  and  reveal  to  us  the  past  and 
present  of  our  lives  but  the  future  as  well. 

"I  am  all  the  more  astonished  from  the  fact  that  eveft 
now  you  personally  know  nothing  of  me  of  the  business 
I  have  been  engaged  in  for  the  greater  part  of  my  life. 

"All  the  world  should  know  you  and  bless  you  for  the 
revelation  you  would  bring  to  them ;  for  without  medium- 
ship  we  are  in  absolute  darkness  regarding  the  future 
life,  a  belief  which  is  sustained  by  faith  alone  from  the 
dark  ages  down  to  the  present  day — no  proof  without 
Spiritualism. 

"I  thank  you  most  sincerely  for  the  unveiling  of  this 
truth." 

In  the  same  year,  1898,  an  address,  delivered  by  Mrs. 
Pepper  before  the  Haverhill  (Massachusetts)  Spiritual- 
ists' Union,  was  deemed  worthy  of  quotation  by  the  press : 

"Spiritualism  has  outridden  the  gale  of  popular  opinion, 
the  clouds  overhead  are  broken,  and  the  dawn  of  a  yet 
brighter  day  gladdens  our  souls.  The  glorious  hope  of 
immortality — the  never-dying  faith  which  animates  the 
heart,  that  we  possess  individuality  which  shall  never  die, 
awakens  courage,  gives  energy  to  character,  and  even  vic- 
tory over  the  conqueror,  death. 

"Though  we  may  weep  for  the  dead,  let  us  salute  the 
immortal ;  having  become  invisible  in  one  existence,  they 
become  resplendent  in  another.  As  we  mourn  the  loss  of 
friends,  so  they  rejoice  in  opportunities  of  reunion.  The 
day  will  come  when  they  shall  visit  every  fireside,  hold 
converse  with  us,  and  sit  at  our  table  on  our  sacred 
anniversaries. 


14  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

"In  the  influence  of  the  bright  memories  of  our  early 
defenders,  and  spurred  on  by  their  exalted  example,  may 
we  be  lifted  to  the  mount  of  transfiguration,  where,  com- 
muning with  their  spirits,  we  may  discern  the  sublime 
grandeur  of  the  mighty  truth  of  Spiritualism,  for  which 
they  lived  and  labored." 

Elizabeth  F.  Kurth,  President  of  The  Woman's  Pro- 
gressive Union,  Brooklyn,  New  York,  in  1903,  thus 
expressed  herself  regarding  Mrs.  Pepper's  qualifications : 

"As  to  reading  the  sealed  letters  placed  upon  the  plat- 
form, this  type  of  mediumship  must  carry  weight  with 
the  most  thick-skinned  skeptic.  In  some  cases  two  or 
three  envelopes  enfold  the  communications.  She  gives 
full  names,  locations,  and  often  the  innermost  thoughts 
of  those  to  whom  the  guides  take  her — all  of  this  with  a 
feeling  of  surety. 

"Ten  years  ago  May  Pepper  was  considered  a  <rery 
good  platform  test  medium;  five  years  ago  she  was  con- 
sidered remarkable;  today  she  stands  as  the  peer  of  all 
demonstrators  of  spiritual  phenomena." 

At  Lyric  Hall,  Boston,  Mrs.  Pepper  must  have  ap- 
pealed to  the  sense  of  justice  on  the  part  of  a  reporter, 
so  fair-minded  is  his  write-up: 

"Judging  from  appearances,  there  is  nothing  unhealthy 
about  a  medium's  occupation.  All  of  the  mediums  pres- 
ent were  remarkably  strong  and  vigorous  looking  women. 
Mrs.  Pepper,  of  Providence,  is  a  particularly  large  woman 
with  a  beautifully  modulated  voice  which  she  uses  on 
occasion  with  dramatic  effect. 

"The  reporter,  endeavoring  to  find  out  facts  from  some 
of  the  people  who.  received  messages,  heard  this  from  a 
woman:  'I  am  not  a  Spiritualist;  I  merely  happened  to 
be  passing,  and  dropped  in.  What  Mrs.  Pepper  dis- 


IN  MANY  FIELDS  15 

closed  was  known  only  to  me.  She  gave  my  name,  and 
the  name  of  my  husband,  from  whom  the  message  came.' 
"After  the  meeting  the  reporter  approached  Mrs.  Pep- 
per. She  gave  him  a  personal  test,  not  in  the  same  man- 
ner of  certainty  she  had  used  when  reading  the  sealed 
letters,  but  by  asking  him  if  one  thing  and  another  was 
not  a  fact.  With  one  exception  the  statements  were  re- 
markably correct." 

In  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  during  a  month's  engagement, 
it  became  necessary  to  turn  away  hundreds  from  the 
services.  That  the  crowds  flocking  to  hear  her  some- 
times surprised  the  medium  herself,  is  indicated  by  the 
following  reminiscence,  related  by  Mary  Drake  Jenne, 
secretary  of  the  Maine  State  Spiritualists'  Association : 

"In  1909  it  was  my  privilege  to  journey  to  Dover  and 
Foxcroft  with  this  illustrious  woman,  she  having  been 
engaged  to  serve  the  First  Piscataqua  Spiritualist  Society. 
The  management  secured  Central  Hall,  the  largest  in  the 
two  towns,  and  at  first  it  was  thought  best  not  to  use  the 
two  galleries.  However,  the  crowd  poured  in,  and  they 
were  obliged  to  open  every  available  bit  of  seating  room. 
Mrs.  Vanderbilt  herself  grew  nervous  as  she  watched 
the  people  pouring  in,  and  finally  remarked,  'It's  no  use ; 
you  never  can  keep  a  crowd  like  that  quiet,  with  so  many 
young  people.' 

"But  no  sooner  had  she  taken  her  place  upon  th^  plat- 
form than  a  hush  fell  upon  the  assembly,  and  all  through 
the  long  service,  consisting  of  a  lecture  and  message  ser- 
vice, she  was  listened  to  with  the  most  rapt  attention." 

Will  J.  Maynard,  in  1905,  described  one  of  the  excel- 
lent tests  received  at  Somerville,  Connecticut,  which  he 
himself  took  pains  to  verify: 

"Mrs.  K.,  of  Somerville,  Connecticut,  though  skep- 
tical in  mind,  attended  a  meeting  and  seance  conducted  by 


16  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

May  S.  Pepper,  and  placed  upon  the  table  a  ballot  asking 
information  regarding  lost  papers. 

"After  describing  Mrs.  K.'s  husband,  who  had  met 
death  by  accident,  the  medium  alluded  to  papers  which 
had  been  lost.  Mrs.  Pepper,  I  know,  never  had  been  in 
the  village  of  Somerville  before,  and  never  had  been  in 
the  section  where  Mrs.  K.  lived.  However,  the  medium 
described  the  house,  and  the  rooms  upstairs.  She  said, 
'I  see  an  old-fashioned  chest.  If  you  will  go  to  this  and 
take  out  the  drawers,  in  the  back  of  one  you  will  find  the 
papers  you  have  looked  for.' 

"Mrs.  K.  found  the  papers  in  this  place,  just  as  Mrs. 
Pepper  had  told  her. 

"Knowing  of  the  circumstances  and  being  interested,  I 
called  upon  Mrs.  K.  and  was  shown  the  room  and  chest 
where  the  papers  were  found." 


CHAPTER  III. 
RECOGNITION 

Faithfully,  constantly,  in  patience,  but  with  ever-in- 
creasing power,  Mrs.  Pepper  had  built  upon  her  talents 
through  girlhood  days  and  during  a  ten-year  period  of 
young  womanhood,  becoming  better  and  better  known 
throughout  her  native  New  England.  Then,  at  the  ar- 
rival of  the  twentieth  century,  her  name  came  to  be 
spoken  as  that  of  one  of  the  foremost  psychics  in  the 
world.  On  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  was  she  honored. 

One  of  the  distinguished  people  willing  to  publicly 
acknowledge  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  her  was  Dr.  Isaac  K. 
Funk,  head  of  the  publishing  firm  of  Funk  and  Wagnalls. 
Notwithstanding  his  far-reaching  business  enterprise, 
Doctor  Funk  found  time  to  consider  evidences  offered  in 
proof  of  continuous  life.  A  number  of  his  letters  to  Mrs. 
Pepper  are  in  her  files.  Never  in  any  of  these  was  there 
indication  of  a  wish  to  seek  for  personal  advantage,  nor 
for  any  information  of  moment  to  himself  alone.  Ex- 
cerpts from  this  correspondence  will  convey  to  the 
reader  the  unselfish  attitude  of  Doctor  Funk  toward  these 
matters : 

PUBLISHING  HOUSE  OF  FUNK  &  WAGNALLS 
Editorial  Rooms  of  the  Standard  Dictionary 

New  York,  April  15,  1903 

I  am  very  desirous  of  reaching  a  definite  conclu- 
sion as  to  the  possibility  of  identifying  spirits  in  their 

17 


18  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

communication.     Your  friend,  Judge  Dailey,  has  kindly 
suggested  that  you  might  be  willing  to  give  such  a  sitting. 

New  York,  Oct.  26,  1904 

I  take  pleasure  in  sending  you  a  copy  of  my  book,  The 
Widow's  Mite  and  Other  Psychic  Phenomena.  You  will 
find,  beginning  with  page  218,  I  make  reference  to  some 
experiments  I  had  with  a  medium  whom  I  call  Mrs.  A. 
This  experience  was  with  yourself.  The  readings  by 
yourself  are  remarkably  accurate. 

New  York,  Feb.  16,  1905 

I  want  to  thank  you  again  for  your  courtesy  in  allow- 
ing me  the  privilege  you  did  last  Sunday  evening.  Your 
handing  to  me  the  letters  which  you  read  at  Sunday 
evening  services,  serves  a  very  good  purpose,  as  the 
people  come  up  to  me  for  the  letters,  and  I  can  get  their 
names  and  addresses.  This  will  give  more  weight  to 
the  experiments  with  the  public  throughout  the  country. 
The  important  thing  to  keep  in  mind  is  not  the  thousand 
people  who  are  in  the  building,  but  the  millions  of  people 
throughout  the  country,  and  in  fact  throughout  the  world, 
who  read  the  newspaper  reports. 

New  York,  Feb.  20,  1906 

I  wish  I  could  get  more  cases  worked  up  in  a  system- 
atic way  with  you,  which  I  could  give.  I  have  now  used 
publicly  all  the  effective  ones  I  had  of  yours;  that  is, 
those  that  will  carry  weight  with  the  outside  public.  I 
think  little  by  little  the  public  is  being  educated  to  the 
fact  that  there  is  something  in  this,  and  is  becoming  more 
willing  to  give  "ghosts"  a  chance. 

Doctor  Funk  was  active  in  his  efforts  to  advance  pop- 
ular knowledge  of  Spiritualism.  His  ready  pen  contrib- 
uted effectively  to  its  literature.  While  in  his  two 
published  books  he  refrained  from  openly  stating  that 


RECOGNITION  19 

he  held  spirit  communication  to  be  a  fact,  in  a  newspaper 
interview  appearing  shortly  after  the  publication  of  The 
Widow's  Mite,  he  made  no  attempt  to  screen  his  views. 
His  words  at  that  time,  in  strong  praise  of  the  work  of 
Mrs.  Peppei,  are  here  quoted: 

"Mrs.  Pepper  has  given  me  many  readings  during  the 
past  decade,  in  which  I  have  never  once  had  an  inaccurate 
statement  made  to  me.  I  have  submitted  her  to  many 
tests  that  would  disprove  the  theory  of  telepathy  in  her 
accomplishments.  I  want  to  say,  and  repeat  many  times, 
and  as  emphatically  as  possible,  that  I  know  Mrs.  Pepper 
to  be  perfectly  honest  and  honorable  and  above  any  form 
of  deceit.  Having  studied  her  work  for  many  years  I 
thoroughly  believe  that  what  she  does  can  only  be  ex- 
plained by  the  argument  of  Spiritualism — spirit  forces 
acting  through  her. 

"Mrs.  Pepper's  prayers  are  the  most  beautiful,  really 
poetic  supplications  possible  to  hear  or  to  conceive.  Her 
sermons  are  helpful  discourses  that  would  lead  men  to 
live  right  lives  if  followed  out. 

"Hundreds  of  people  go  to  hear  Mrs.  Pepper  out  of 
curiosity.  Hundreds  go  to  ridicule.  Meanwhile  she 
keeps  right  on  with  her  work,  and  scores  are  compelled 
to  embrace  Spiritualism  because  of  what  they  actually  are 
told." 

Again,  in  the  New  York  Herald,  Sunday,  November 
12,  1905,  appeared  an  article  by  Doctor  Funk  on  "Spirit- 
ualism," in  which  he  chose  to  cite  a  noteworthy  message. 

"A  case  of  unusual  interest  was  brought  to  my  atten- 
tion. A  boy  at  the  age  of  two  years  lost  his  mother,  and 
his  father  wandered  away.  He  had  reached  the  age  of 
twenty-nine  years  when  he  attended  one  of  Mrs.  Pepper's 
meetings,  and  sent  a  communication  to  his  mother,  asking 


20  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

for  the  address  of  his  father.  Mrs.  Pepper  gave  an  ad- 
dress in  London,  to  which  he  wrote.  The  firm  there 
answered  that  such  a  man  had  been  in  their  employ,  but 
had  left  three  years  before  to  go  to  Glasgow.  The  young 
man  sent  a  letter  addressed  to  his  father  in  Glasgow,  to 
which  he  received  a  reply.  I  investigated  this  case  my- 
self and  am  thoroughly  convinced  there  was  no  collusion." 

In  1907,  Doctor  Funk  brought  out  his  book,  The 
Psychic  Riddle.  In  it  he  included  (page  172)  the  fol- 
lowing piquant  account  of  a  test  of  Mrs.  Pepper's  me- 
diumship : 

"A  gentleman  who  was  connected  with  the  University 
of  Chicago,  and  who  was  a  fellow  in  Semitics  in  the 
University,  a  clergyman,  editor  and  teacher,  with  forty 
years  behind  him  to  back  his  discretion,  sent  me  a  sealed 
letter  which  he  desired  me  to  submit  to  a  medium  as  a 
test.  Receiving  very  many  such  requests,  I  threw  the 
letter  into  a  pigeon  hole,  with  a  little  slip  pinned  to  it 
showing  from  whom  it  came. 

"One  evening  after  returning  home  I  made  up  my 
mind  to  visit  Mrs.  Pepper  with  an  envelope  which  I  my- 
self had  prepared.  It  occurred  to  me  to  take  also  some 
envelopes  I  had  received.  It  was  so  dark  in  my  study 
that  I  could  not  distinguish  the  envelopes,  so  I  took  one 
from  the  pigeon  hole  and  unpinned  the  little  identification 
slip  and  threw  the  slip  on  my  study  table.  In  my  dress- 
ing room  I  saw  that  this  envelope  had  no  writing  what- 
ever on  it,  but  had  in  each  corner  two  faint  pencil  marks, 
and  that  the  flap  of  the  envelope,  though  sealed,  was  not 
protected  with  sealing  wax.  Where  the  four  flaps  of  the 
envelope  overlapped  I  dropped  heated  sealing  wax,  stamp- 
ing it  with  a  seal. 

"I  could  not  find  out  from  whom  this  envelope  came, 
although  I  tested  it  by  microscope  and  bright  light,  and 
I  did  not  know  anything  about  what  was  in  it.  Entering 


RECOGNITION  21 

Mrs.  Pepper's  house  I  took  my  seat  alongside  the  table, 
on  which  I  placed  my  two  envelopes.  The  second  enve- 
lope the  medium  selected  was  the  one  I  had  taken  from 
my  pigeon  hole  and  sealed  before  leaving  home. 

"The  medium  at  once  said,  'I  hear  the  name  Horacum 
or  Horaca  (all  the  names  I  give  are  fictitious,  but  the 
real  names  are  as  strange  as  those  I  give  here),  and  I 
hear  "Pearl,  Pearl;  whose  letter  is  this?"  (There 
were  fifteen  or  twenty  persons  in  the  room  and  nearly 
every  one  had  placed  a  letter  on  the  table.)  I  said,  "It  is 
mine,"  recognizing  it  by  the  seal.  "Well,  who  is  Pearl?" 
I  said,  "I  do  not  know.  Is  Pearl  the  name  of  a  person  ?" 
"No,"  after  a  moment's  hesitation;  "it  is  not  the  name 
of  a  person."  Mother  Horacum  says,  "Tell  Eton  that  the 
pearl  breastpin  was  not  stolen;  it  was  lost."  You  do 
not  know  what  is  in  this  letter.  The  man  who  sent  you 
this  letter  is  named  Eton,  and  he  lives  in  the  west.  This 
letter  is  addressed  to  a  spirit  named  Horacum  or  Horaca, 
and  was  sent  you  by  a  man  named  Wilton.'  After 
awhile  the  medium  told  me  the  name  of  the  man  was 
Eton  Wilton,  which  I  found  to  be  correct  on  my  return 
home,  when  I  looked  at  the  writing  on  the  identification 
slip  thrown  on  my  desk.  Without  opening  the  letter  I 
returned  it  to  Mr.  Wilton  at  the  University  of  Chicago." 

In  reply,  Wilton  wrote  me  as  follows : 

"Mrs.  Horacus,  an  old  schoolmate  of  mine,  died  four- 
teen or  fifteen  years  ago,  leaving  one  little  daughter.  I 
have  never  seen  the  latter,  nor  communicated  with  her. 
She  lives  a  thousand  miles  from  Chicago.  Last  fall  this 
daughter  visited  an  aunt — unknown  to  me.  I  do  not 
even  know  her  name — and  was  presented  with  a  beautiful 
pearl  pin.  Shortly  after  she  returned  home  the  pin  was 
missing. 

"Recently  a  relative  of  hers  mentioned  the  above  facts 
in  a  letter  to  me,  and  jocularly  suggested  that  I  find  the 
pin,  knowing  I  was  making  some  psychic  investigations. 
I  have  not  written  to  this  person  since. 


22  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

"I  concluded  to  try  an  experiment  through  you.  You 
did  not  know  what  the  sealed  question  was.  Ordinary 
mind  reading,  or  subconscious  mind,  would  be  pretty  well 
excluded.  The  sealed  note  was  written  on  hard  paper 
folded  so  that  the  writing  was  inside.  Two  thicknesses 
of  paper  were  between  it  and  the  envelope.  The  writing 
was  partly  in  colored  ink,  partly  in  copying  pencil,  not 
moistened,  and  written  lightly  so  as  to  appear  like  ordi- 
nary pencil  writing.  Any  moisture  would  bring  out  the 
real  color  of  the  copying  pencil,  and  excess  moisture 
would  dissolve  it.  A  thin  strip  of  white  tissue  was  passed 
through  the  folded  note,  the  two  ends  glued  to  the  enve- 
lope. Had  the  envelope  been  opened,  the  tissue  would 
have  been  broken.  As  the  tissue  had  been  treated  with  a 
chemical,  if  anyone  had  replaced  or  duplicated  the  tissue 
strip  I  could  tell  by  a  simple  test  that  this  had  been  done. 
On  the  inside  flap  of  the  envelope  was  writing  in  $ry 
copying  pencil  just  above  the  gum,  where  it  would  have 
been  reached  by  any  liquid  that  might  be  put  upon  it  to 
unseal  the  envelope  or  make  it  possible  to  read  the  writing 
inside. 

"The  question  I  asked  Mrs.  Horacus,  read:  'Your 
daughter  has  lost  a  beautiful  pearl  pin,  recently  given 
her  by  her  aunt.  Can  you  tell  her  where  it  is?' 

"Mrs.  Pepper  correctly  obtained  the  name  of  the 
mother,  entirely  unknown  to  Mr.  Funk,  and  the  fact  that 
the  question  concerned  a  lost  pearl  pin.  Since  she  went 
no  further  than  to  arrive  at  the  contents  of  the  envelope 
without  having  opened  it  under  test  conditions,  the  con- 
clusion reached  was  that  she  exhibited  clairvoyance  out- 
side of  any  explanation  that  mind- reading  or  subconscious 
influence  could  have  entered  into  the  test.  The  writer  of 
the  letter  had  told  no  one  that  he  intended  submitting  such 
a  question.  Mrs.  Pepper  therefore  proved  that  she  or 
her  controls  read  the  sealed  letter.  Since  she  did  not 
locate  the  pin  in  this  instance  the  practical  result  was 
ineffective." 


RECOGNITION  23 

Frequently,  however,  Bright  Eyes  was  entirely  suc- 
cessful in  locating  lost  articles  definitely.  A  letter,  dated 
at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  in  1904,  states: 

"I  wanted  you  to  know  I  found  the  lost  ring  just  as 
you  said  you  saw  it.  You  said  it  was  'near  something 
red.'  I  had  a  bunch  of  red  berries  over  it." 

In  all  his  wide  experience  with  psychic  phenomena, 
presumably  the  most  precious  evidence  Doctor  Funk  ever 
received  came  through  the  instrumentality  of  Mrs.  Pep- 
per. The  story  of  this  has  been  retold  by  Lilian  Whiting, 
in  The  Progressive  Thinker,  February  16,  1907 : 

"I  enclosed  a  letter  to  my  mother  in  an  envelope  ad- 
dressed on  the  outside  with  an  initial,  and  on  the  inside 
with  the  word  'Mother,'  and  had  it  put  on  the  desk  after 
Mrs.  Pepper  was  on  the  platform. 

"My  mother  died  forty  years  before  that  time  in  the 
west,  and  it  is  very  unlikely  that  outside  of  my  family 
anyone  in  Brooklyn  knew  her  name  or  what  caused  her 
death. 

"There  was  only  one  cnance  in  some  hundreds  that  Mrs. 
Pepper  would  happen  to  seize  upon  my  letter,  but  picking 
it  up,  she  immediately  spoke  my  mother's  first  name  (not 
contained  in  the  envelope),  and  described  her  by  a  num- 
ber of  trifling  but  none  the  less  important  details  of  ap- 
pearance. She  said  that,  curiously,  my  mother  seemed  to 
walk  as  if  using  but  one  foot.  Mrs.  Pepper  then  inquired 
if  I  knew  why  she  walked  in  this  way.  I  asked,  'Can't 
she  tell  me?'  In  a  moment  Mrs.  Pepper  said  my  mother 
asked  if  I  did  not  remember  'that  needle.' 

"The  fact  was,  when  I  was  a  young  man,  my  mother 
stepped  off  a  chair  and  ran  a  needle  into  her  foot.  The 
needle  had  been  sticking  in  the  floor,  point  downward,  so 
that  the  eye-end  of  it  had  punctured  her  thin  slipper  and 
run  so  far  into  the  foot  that  in  order  to  remove  it  I  used 
a  pair  of  pincers.  Paralysis  of  the  foot  and  limb  followed 
and  in  a  week  she  was  dead. 


24  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

"The  question  in  my  letter  was,  'Will  mother  tell  me 
what  caused  her  death  ?'  Mind  reading  might  explain  an 
incident  of  this  kind,  but  evidence  of  the  sure  possession 
even  of  that  power  is  exceedingly  interesting. 

"The  next  statement  Mrs.  Pepper  made  was  that  my 
mother  was  not  alone,  that  she  had  by  her  side  a  boy 
child  whom  she  called  Chester,  and  said  he  was  her  grand- 
child. I  did  not  remember  any  grandchild  of  the  name 
of  Chester,  either  dead  or  alive,  and  went  away  from  the 
church  that  night  with  the  opinion  that  this  alleged  child, 
Chester,  was  merely  one  of  the  unaccountable  vagaries 
which  frequently  obtrude  themselves  into  otherwise  ac- 
curate phenomena. 

"But  I  was  mistaken.  Making  inquiry  among  mem- 
bers of  my  family,  I  learned  that  my  mother  did  have  a 
grandchild  named  Chester  who  had  died  in  infancy  about 
twenty  years  previously,  in  the  west.  This  accounted  for 
the  fact  that  his  identity  was  not  recognized  by  me." 

Dr.  Edwin  F.  Bowers,  widely  known  as  an  author  of 
books  and  magazine  articles  on  hygiene,  was  another  dis- 
tinguished patron  of  Mrs.  Vanderbilt.  In  a  newspaper 
article,  in  1912,  he  thus  expressed  himself: 

"For  many  years  I  have  been  a  student  and  investi- 
gator of  that  most  interesting  and  fascinating  of  all  sci- 
ences— psychic  phenomena.  I  am  tolerably  familiar  with 
the  writings  on  the  subject  and  have  had  some  experience 
with  the  manifestations  of  Spiritism. 

"The  most  convincing  and  irrefutable  knowledge  of 
these  matters,  however,  has  come  to  me  through  the  mar- 
velous psychic,  Mary  Vanderbilt. 

"This  remarkable  woman  is  pastor  of  the  First  Spiritual 
Church  of  Brooklyn,  and  there  she  speaks  inspirationally 
upon  themes  suggested  off-hand  by  members  of  her  audi- 
ence. This  is  quite  the  best  thing  in  impromptu  speaking 


RECOGNITION  25 

I  ever  have  heard.  It  is  in  her  message  work,  though, 
that  she  presents  evidence  which  in  the  annals  of  psychic 
research  has  not  been  surpassed.  I  have  heard  her  give 
hundreds  of  messages — some  of  them  most  intricate  and 
complicated  in  character — and  I  have  yet  to  hear  where 
she  has  erred. 

"On  several  occasions  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  has  given  me 
vivid  and  intimate  messages  from  a  brother  who  passed 
out  a  year  or  more  ago.  In  part  the  information  relating 
to  his  affairs  was  of  such  a  nature  that  its  significance  and 
accuracy  could  only  be  determined  after  correspondence 
with  friends  back  home. 

"I  hold  Mrs.  Mary  Vanderbilt  in  the  highest  possible 
esteem  as  a  dear  friend,  an  honest  and  truthful  psychic, 
and  a  woman  who  is  doing  a  wonderful  work  in  bringing 
help  and  comfort  and  a  definite  assurance  of  the  con- 
tinuity of  life  beyond  the  grave,  to  this  gray  old  world." 

Another  person  indebted  to  Mrs.  Pepper's  qualifica- 
tions at  this  time  was  S.  B.  Robertson,  manager  of  a 
publishing  house  in  New  York  City.  Having  purchased 
from  a  former  partner  the  latter's  interest  in  this  pub- 
lishing concern,  Mr.  Robertson  thus  acquired  two  large 
safes,  with  the  combinations  in  cipher.  Not  long  after- 
ward, the  man  from  whom  he  had  bought  the  safes  died ; 
and  to  Mr.  Robertson's  dismay  it  was  found  that  one  of 
the  safes  could  not  be  opened. 

With  the  aid  of  her  spirit  assistants,  Mrs.  Pepper  came 
into  communication  with  the  former  owner  of  the  safes. 
Explaining  that  a  cog  was  loose  on  the  inside  of  the  re- 
fractory lock,  this  spirit  gave  instructions  which  enabled 
Mr.  Robertson  to  open  it. 

That  test  would  seem  to  comply  with  all  requirements, 
an  honest  skeptic  might  impose.  The  experience  was  that 
of  a  competent  business  man,  of  dependable  word ;  the 
information  supplied  was  of  practical  value  (in  counter- 
claim to  the  cry  that  vaporings  and  not  useful  facts  are 
dealt  forth  by  spirits)  ;  the  knowledge  was  out  j*le  the 


26  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

possibilities  of  subconscious  mind ;  and  the  purport  of  the 
message  could  not  be  called  evil.  The  single  loophole  left 
for  an  antagonist  would  be  the  assertion  that  emissaries 
of  Satan  at  times  send  excellent  messages  to  lead  people 
toward  Spiritualism  and  apart  from  orthodoxy.  If  think- 
ing beings  prefer  this  last  explanation,  they  are  welcome 
to  it. 

It  was  about  the  year  1906  when  Mrs.  Pepper  received 
a  letter  from  a  literary  member  of  the  royal  family  of 
Russia.  In  the  envelope  addressed  to  her  was  a  letter 
enclosed  in  another  envelope  sealed  in  wax  with  the 
royal  Russian  seal,  and  the  request  that  she  answer  the 
letter  in  the  sealed  envelope  and  return  the  answer  with 
the  seal  unbroken. 

She  mailed  the  answer,  as  requested.  In  due  time  a 
reply  came  saying  the  answer  was  correct;  and  with  it 
an  invitation  to  come  to  Russia  as  the  guest  of  the  royal 
family. 

There  was  some  deliberation  before  Mrs.  Pepper  de- 
cided to  go  abroad,  but  eventually  she  accepted  this  in- 
vitation, giving  seances  at  various  cities  on  the  European 
continent. 

Mr.  J.  R.  Francis,  then  editor  of  The  Progressive 
Thinker,  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Pepper  requesting  that  she 
furnish  to  his  paper  an  account  of  her  travels,  stated 
that  "she  was  one  medium  in  whom  he  had  unlimited 
confidence."  In  The  Progressive  Thinker  of  August  18, 
1906,  was  printed  an  article  by  Mrs.  Pepper,  in  part  as 
below : 

"Thousands  of  miles  intervene  between  me  and  my 
native  land,  and  while  it  is  true  that  one  can  feel  in  all 
climes  the  sublime  thought  of  Thomas  Paine,  expressed 
in  the  words,  'the  world  is  my  country,  and  to  do  good 
my  religion,'  nevertheless  there  is  an  indescribable  yearn- 
ing for  that  part  of  the  world  we  call  our  native  land, 


RECOGNITION  27 

that  all  the  ethics  and  grandeur  of  past  time  cannot  efface. 
Feeling  this  I  send  across  the  ocean  to  the  readers  of 
The  Progressive  Thinker,  and  the  Spiritualists  of  Amer- 
ica, a  greeting. 

"Being  the  guest  of  a  countess  and  her  family  whose 
love  and  admiration  for  Emperor  Wilhelm  I.  remains 
undimmed,  although  he  is  no  longer  in  material  form,  I 
visited  his  castle  and  lived  for  an  hour  among  the  things 
he  loved.  I  stood  in  the  historical  window  where  each 
morning  for  sixty  years  he  reviewed  his  troops,  and 
where  they  claim  he  now  appears.  Then  I  was  taken 
to  the  castle  of  the  present  kaiser,  through  the  gorgeous 
rooms  where  the  'lady  in  white'  is  supposed  to  walk  and 
give  warning  of  impending  danger  to  the  royal  house- 
hold. 

"Many  who  would  not  believe  in  the  phenomena  of 
Spiritualism  firmly  believe  these  things,  and  in  conse- 
quence unconsciously  believe  in  the  communication  and 
apparitions  of  spirits. 

"There  are  many  organizations  of  investigators  in 
Berlin,  divided  into  lodges,  which  are  secret  societies  on 
the  principle  of  the  Masonic  orders  in  America,  com- 
posed entirely  of  men.  Women  are  not  admitted  mem- 
bers. They  have  their  passwords,  emblems  and  regalia. 
The  places  of  meeting  are  called  chapels.  The  largest 
and  most  influential  society  is  named  'Psychic  Lodge,' 
whose  master,  on  reading  that  I  was  in  the  city,  sent  a 
messenger  inviting  me  to  attend  a  meeting  where  they 
expected  to  have  a  materializing  seance.  The  medium, 
however,  failed  to  appear.  The  chapel  was  brilliantly 
lighted,  decorated  with  flowers,  and  with  tall  candles 
burning  at  a  crucifix  in  the  center.  The  men  in  their 
black  velvet  and  gold  regalia  were  very  impressive. 

"I  felt  in  my  soul  the  earnestness  of  these  men  and 
these  sacred  surroundings,  investigating  the  most  sacred 
thing  that  has  touched  the  lives  of  humanity — the  com- 
munication between  the  world  material  and  the  world 


28  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

spiritual — and  I  bowed  my  head  in  reverence  to  those 
unseen  influences  who  had  made  me  their  message  bearer. 
Bright  Eyes'  inability  to  speak  the  German  language  was 
much  to  be  regretted;  but  the  look  of  amazement  on  the 
faces  of  many  present  and  their  expressions  of  wonder 
fully  attested  to  her  good  work.  It  left  a  deep  impression 
on  them,  as  Europe  has  not  produced  any  clear  mental 
mediums. 

"One  exceptionally  striking  test  was  given  to  Professor 
Kredler,  who  has  for  a  number  of  years  been  investigat- 
ing, but  who  never  had  received  a  clear,  concise  test.  He 
had  read  in  the  papers  of  Bright  Eyes'  reading  of  sealed 
letters,  and  brought  one,  sealed  and  labeled,  asking  in 
regard  to  a  cousin  of  his. 

"Immediately  upon  his  handing  up  this  letter,  Bright 
Eyes  said :  'There  is  a  man  with  his  hand  on  your  letter, 
and  he  says  he  is  your  uncle,  William  Kredler,  your 
father's  brother,  and  you  asked  about  his  daughter, 
Veritas.'  The  rest  of  the  message  was  of  a  private 
nature,  convincing  to  him,  because  the  names  were  not 
in  the  letter. 

"Taking  my  hands,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  in  broken 
English  he  said:  'At  last  I  have  some  tangible  evidence 
to  meet  the  skepticism  of  my  friends/  and  that  within 
himself  he  felt  he  had  spoken  with  his  dead  uncle. 

"While  there  I  was  also  the  guest  of  Countess  Moltke, 
whose  son,  Graf  Moltke  the  Second,  is  the  first  general  of 
the  army,  still  keeping  alive  the  name  of  Germany's 
greatest  field  marshal.  As  her  guest  I  met  many  men  and 
women  of  rank,  and  we  constantly  discussed  Spiritualism 
over  our  dinner  and  coffee.  I  found  that  most  of  them, 
while  not  avowed  Spiritualists,  believe  much  in  the  phe- 
nomena. 

"Also  I  have  been  the  guest  of  Julius  and  Judge  Max 
Nonweiler,  who  have  become  deeply  interested  in  Spirit- 
ualism through  letters  from  their  sisters,  who  are  mem- 
bers of  the  First  Spiritual  Church  of  Brooklyn. 


RECOGNITION  29 

"Tomorrow  I  leave  for  Darmstadt,  the  capital  of 
Hesse,  where  I  am  to  meet  Russian  friends  of  the 
cause  who  were  so  anxious  for  me  to  accept  an  en- 
gagement at  St.  Petersburg.  The  papers  here  are  herald- 
ing the  fact  that  the  Czar  is  on  his  way  to  Darmstadt 
to  consult  a  celebrated  medium,  he  being  an  avowed 
Spiritualist. 

"From  Darmstadt  to  Paris,  then  home.    .    .    .    *    . 

"And  now  let  us  as  workers  in  the  great  vineyard  of 
spiritual  truth  consecrate  our  lives  anew  to  those  unseen 
intelligences  who  will  continue  to  bear  their  message 
to  a  waiting  world." 

In  The  Progressive  Thinker  columns  we  find  this  in- 
teresting culmination  of  the  Russian  visit  of  Mrs.  Van- 
derbilt. 

"Remaining  for  several  weeks  as  the  guest  of  the  Rus- 
sian royal  family,  when  the  time  of  her  departure  came 
one  of  the  ladies  of  the  household  brought  her  a  tray  of 
jewels,  saying  it  was  their  desire  that  she  take  something 
with  her  as  a  more  expressive  token  than  mere  words 
could  possibly  be,  but  they  preferred  she  should  make 
her  own  selection.  She  selected  a  beautifully  wrought 
gold  cross,  set  with  six  or  seven  large  rubies  and  a  num- 
ber of  small  diamonds.  Its  money  value  has  been  esti- 
mated at  several  thousand  dollars.  It  is  the  jewel  she 
has  often  worn  before  public  audiences." 


CHAPTER  IV. 
ON  THE  HEIGHTS 

Stirred  with  a  wish  to  establish  a  series  of  meetings  in 
keeping  with  the  highest  religious  aspect  of  Spiritualism, 
in  1904  a  number  of  influential  men  of  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  united  their  efforts.  As  a  result,  a  society, 
called  the  First  Spiritual  Church,  was  founded  in  Brook- 
lyn in  October  of  that  year.  The  Aurora  Grata  Cathedral 
at  Bedford  Avenue  and  Madison  Street  having  been  se- 
cured for  the  organization,  Mrs.  May  Pepper  was  chosen 
as  leader  and  pastor. 

In  this  movement  the  founders  drew  up  a  set  of  prin- 
ciples enunciating  the  scope  of  the  prospective  work,  the 
sections  definitely  relating  to  Spiritualistic  tenets  standing 
as  follows: 

"We  believe  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  incorporating  into 
the  doctrines  and  tenets  of  all  truth-desiring  religious 
organizations  an  acceptance  of  the  fact  of  spiritual  com- 
munication between  the  physical  and  spiritual  worlds ;  and 
in  the  absence  of  such  acceptance,  that  wherever  prac- 
ticable, religious  organizations  should  be  formed  which 
shall  recognize  such  communion. 

"We  include,  as  the  basis  upon  which  we  shall  build, 
all  essential  truth,  whether  incorporated  or  not  in  other 
religions  of  mankind;  and  declare  it  to  be  our  purpose 
to  ascertain  and  make  known  what  is  true,  especially  of 
that  which  pertains  to  the  spiritual  nature  of  man;  his 
psychic  powers  and  possibilities;  his  relations  to  the  spir- 
itual world ;  and  to  encourage  the  judicious  cultivation  of 
spiritual  gifts." 

30 


FIRST  SPIRITUAL  CHURCH  AND  PARSONAGE 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


ON  THE  HEIGHTS  31 

The  order  of  service  comprised,  besides  spirit  messages, 
readings  from  the  scriptures,  prayer,  music  with  organ 
accompaniment,  and  a  sermon  or  lecture.  The  addresses 
delivered  embodied  teachings  calculated  to  lead  toward 
human  unfoldment.  During  one  of  her  early  lectures  at 
this  church,  Mrs.  Pepper,  in  voicing  the  following  plea, 
struck  the  keynote  to  which  she  harmonized  not  only  her 
manner  of  conducting  a  meeting,  but  the  rhythm  of  her 
inmost  being: 

"Let  us  come  here  to  consecrate  our  lives  to  God  and 
build  our  church  upon  such  a  basis,  that  when  we  do  pass 
to  the  other  life  we  may  claim  heaven  as  our  own  and 
feel  that  we  have  earned  it." 

The  spirit  messages  given  at  the  Brooklyn  church  were 
based  upon  written  queries  placed  by  members  of  the 
audience  upon  the  desk  or  pulpit  at  the  front  of  the  audi- 
torium. There  is  no  doubt  that  this  portion  of  the  pro- 
gram formed  the  attraction  which  filled  the  place  with 
capacity  crowds.  Yet  there  was  no  slipping  toward  sen- 
sationalism in  any  of  this.  The  sacred  nature  of  Spiritu- 
alistic philosophy  had  too  solemn  a  hold  upon  May  Pepper 
to  allow  her,  in  the  instance  of  a  single  message,  to  swerve 
from  a  purpose  to  uplift.  Seldom  in  Spiritualistic  history 
has  as  long  a  term  of  meetings  been  held  which,  while 
offering  vivid  spirit  demonstrations,  gave  such  steadfast 
adherence  to  high  ideals.  And  it  is  certain  that  if  Spirit- 
ualism had  at  no  time  accomplished  anything  other  than 
to  present  these  services  to  the  public,  the  record  then 
established  was  sufficient  to  refute  every  objection  ever 
raised  to  Spiritualistic  claims.  For  at  the  First  Spiritual 
Church  of  Brooklyn  the  theories  of  mind  reading  and  of 
subconscious  mind  as  a  source  for  messages  given,  were 
counteracted  again  and  again ;  while  the  outrageous  sug- 
gestion that  "only  evil  spirits  communicate"  was  relegated 
to  the  mental  refuse  heap,  where  it  belongs. 


32  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

Public  attention  having  been  aroused  by  these  meetings, 
the  Sunday  night  message  service  furnished  much  ma- 
terial for  considerable  newspaper  copy;  but  it  is  to  be 
noted  that  many  of  these  news  articles  took  on  a  tenor  of 
respect  not  commonly  accorded  in  the  daily  press  to  any 
psychic.  Mrs.  Pepper  seemed  able,  in  the.  sincerity  of 
her  own  conviction  and  the  end  achieved  by  her  medium- 
ship,  to  bring  all  hearers  to  a  mood  of  serious  considera- 
tion. 

Since  any  ordinary  theory  failed  to  account  for  the 
niraculous  messages  given  at  Brooklyn,  skeptics  insinu- 
ated that  the  medium  substituted  letters  of  her  own  for 
those  submitted  by  the  audience.  A  committee,  of  whom 
Doctor  Funk  was  one,  therefore  sat  upon  the  platform 
one  evening,  and  rubber-stamped  the  letters  as  they  were 
passed  in.  Mrs.  Pepper  then  satisfactorily  answered  the 
letters,  and  thus  this  explanation  was  disposed  of. 

On  an  unforgettable  night  in  Brooklyn,  an  astounding 
spirit  demonstration  occurred.  Taking  up  a  letter  which 
had  been  placed  on  the  desk,  Mrs.  Pepper  declared  that 
a  skeptic  had  handed  in  that  envelope  and  also  a  second 
one,  both  addressed  to  "Grandfather  Figuera."  No  one 
present  would  acknowledge  this. 

The  medium,  however,  instead  of  dismissing  the  inci- 
dent, requested  the  spirit  of  Grandfather  Figuera  to  aid 
her  in  finding  the  second  letter  to  which  she  had  refer- 
ence. She  then  went  through  the  motion  of  assisting  an 
aged  man  to  step  to  the  desk. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Mrs.  Pepper  sometimes 
stated  that  when  mentally  within  the  conscious  control 
of  spirit  forces,  as  in  performing  the  platform  message 
work,  she  usually  saw  the  spirits  exactly  as  she  saw 
mortals.  On  this  notable  occasion  her  every  gesture 
indicated  that  she  thus  perceived  the  communicator. 

When  she  apparently  had  helped  an  invisible  old  man 
to  wend  his  way  to  the  platform,  she  paused.  Then 


ON  THE  HEIGHTS  33 

while  a  breathless  hush  stilled  the  great  audience,  the  heap 
of  letters  began  to  move!  No  mortal  hands  were  on 
them.  Presently  one  singled  itself  out  from  among  the 
others. 

When  Mrs.  Pepper  picked  up  the  letter  thus  separated 
from  the  general  heap,  a  man  present  admitted  that  he 
had  written  both  letters  addressed  to  "Grandfather  Fig- 
uera." 

Whoever  the  old  gentleman  was,  he  surely  lent  his 
help  to  Mrs.  Pepper  and  her  spirit  band,  and  took  part 
in  one  of  the  most  remarkable  exhibitions  of  spirit  power 
ever  witnessed  by  a  large  assembly. 

Since  the  dwellers  of  the  next  realm  of  existence  were 
thus  plainly  perceived  by  this  medium,  since  the  spirit 
life  was  so  real  to  her,  it  is  not  strange  that  Mary  Pepper 
Vanderbilt  yearned  to  devote  her  energies  to  preaching 
and  teaching  the  truths  of  spirit  communication,  the 
overwhelming  importance  of  which  must  confront  every 
serious  thinker.  That  this  body  of  truth  forms  the  core 
of  the  lessons  taught  in  Scriptural  writ,  was  also  Mrs. 
Vanderbilt's  conviction.  To  quote  from  one  of  her 
addresses : 

"Spiritualism  is  rediscovered  truth,  brought  out  of  the 
misty  past,  brought  before  men's  eyes.  ...  As  the 
tomb  of  Jesus  was  rent  and  cast  asunder,  so  is  every 
tomb  rent  asunder,  and  every  spirit  resurrected." 

The  following  messages,  quoted  from  an  issue  of  the 
New  York  Herald  of  that  time,  furnish  examples  of  the 
kind  of  information  usually  given  at  the  Brooklyn  church, 
messages  bespeaking  a  living  affection  which  touched  to 
the  quick: 

"One  of  the  letters  was  addressed  simply  to  'Pa.'  'This 
is  for  Pa  Cohn,'  said  Mrs.  Pepper,  and  proceeded  to  give 
a  message  to  a  young  woman  who  admitted  the  truth 
of  it." 


34  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

"In  answer  to  another  letter  a  spirit  advised  a  young 
woman  in  the  audience  to  return  to  Jamaica.  The  young 
woman  stated  that  her  home  was  at  that  place,  and  that 
she  had  left  it  some  time  previously." 

"In  another  message,  Mrs.  Pepper  inquired  whether 
anyone  of  the  name  of  Gaston  happened  to  be  present, 
further  saying  that  in  this  connection  the  spirit  of  a 
woman  was  before  her,  asking  to  reach  her  son. 

"When  the  name  was  acknowledged  by  a  man  in  the 
hall,  Mrs.  Pepper  continued:  'The  spirit  says  she  has 
seen  the  tribulations  of  the  father,  and  has  watched  over 
her  other  boy.  She  says  something  about — a  guinea — ' 

"  'Guiana,  the  country,'  interposed  the  man. 

"  'She  says  it  would  have  been  better  for  your  brother 
if  he  had  stayed  there,  but  he  was  bound  to  go  to  Bar- 
badoes.' 

"  'Yes,  yes,  he  would  go/  said  the  man. 

"  'She  says  if  you  have  any  influence  over  him,  keep 
him  out  of  the  States.  Let  him  go  back  to  Guiana,  stick 
to  his  business  there,  and  he  will  do  well.  Is  this  right, 
Joe?' 

"  'Yes,  it  is/  half  sobbed  the  man." 

To  Spiritualists  who  are  privileged  to  listen  to  plat- 
form messages  from  excellent  mediums  in  the  larger 
cities  and  towns  or  at  the  summer  camps,  the  foregoing 
citation  may  not  seem  remarkable  in  tone;  but  it  must 
be  admitted  that  few  psychics  are  of  development  so 
advanced  that  a  succession  of  such  tests  can  be  offered 
during  an  entire  seance.  The  spirit  strength  operating 
through  Mrs.  Pepper  was  of  sustained  power,  and  con- 
tinual reception  of  clearcut  ideas  from  the  world  of  spirit 
was  well  within  her  possibilities.  Thus  some  weight  of 
evidence  wfc.3  shaped  together  in  the  case  of  every  indi- 
vidual addressed,  while  in  the  course  of  any  Sunaa> 
evening  at  the  First  Spiritual  Church,  some  messages 


ON  THE  HEIGHTS  35 

would  by  chance  deal  with  details  so  far  removed  from 
the  ordinary  as  to  leave  lasting  impression  on  the  minds 
of  those  who  heard  them. 

When  such  were  noted  in  the  newspapers  Mrs.  Pepper 
sometimes  clipped  and  treasured  the  account.  In  this 
way  the  record  of  the  following  tests  has  been  preserved : 

"There  is  a  spirit  here  named  Neal.  The  person  he 
comes  to  is  deaf.  She  has  never  been  in  a  place  like 
this  before.  She  knows  nothing  about  Spiritualism. 

"A  young  man  acknowledged  this  message,  indicating 
an  elderly  lady  with  him. 

"The  spirit  says  he  is  sorry  he  did  not  live  to  restore 
the  money  he  took  (he  took  some  money  from  his 
mother).  That  he  tried  to  get  her  to  come  to  this  meet- 
ing, in  order  to  have  a  chance  to  tell  her  he  is  sorry 
he  took  the  $500. 

"The  young  man  stated  that  all  this  was  correct." 

"On  a  memorable  night  in  Brooklyn,  Mrs.  Pepper 
made  the  statement  that  a  spirit  appeared  before  her  with 
a  pocketbook  in  her  hand.  The  initials  on  the  sealed 
letter  Mrs.  Pepper  had  picked  up  were  K.  W.  W. 

"A  young  woman  in  the  audience  raised  her  hand, 
but  stated  the  spirit,  so  far  as  she  knew,  had  nothing 
to  do  with  a  pocketbook. 

'  'I  am  not  mistaken,'  said  the  medium.  'Was  not 
this  spirit's  name  Wallet?  I  hear  the  name  Katherine 
Wallet.'  This  was  acknowledged  as  correct." 

The  way  in  which  the  Brooklyn  meetings  registered 
themselves  in  the  brain  of  an  outsider,  is  sketched  in 
the  extract  given  below,  which  was  printed  in  the  New 
York  World  some  time  in  1905  : 

"Mrs.  Pepper  is  tall,  with  the  massive  frame  of  women 
of  mountain  regions,  but  covered  with  the  avoirdupois 
of  the  well-nourished  woman,  carried  with  the  ease  of 


36  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

one  who  has  a  fair  comprehension  of  the  laws  of  phys- 
ical being.  She  also  has  solved  the  question  of  platform 
garb. 

"From  the  moment  she  appears  she  conveys  to  any 
sensitive  person  the  impression  of  a  dignified  woman 
who  knows  she  is  under  criticism  and  expects  it ;  not  a 
sanctified,  about-to-be-sacrificed  expression — neither  one 
of  antagonism  to  all  her  critics.  She  rather  exudes  the 
impression  of  a  woman  who  submits  and  chafes  under 
it  all.  This  is  intensified  by  her  own  way  of  alluding 
to  herself  and  critics. 

"  'You  said/  she  will  say,  'that  you  guessed  you  would 
go  to  see  "that  Pepper  woman" ;  or  sometimes  it  is  "that 
Mrs.  Pepper," '  and  then  she  invariably  wreathes  her 
mouth  in  an  odd  smile,  as  if  she  might  as  well  laugh  at 
it  herself. 

"It  is  said  that  Mrs.  Pepper  has  devoted  herself  solely 
to  the  development  of  this  power  of  communication,  and 
that  her  great  desire  is  to  do  good  to  those  who  need 
help  from  the  spirits.  In  support  of  this  it  is  a  fact 
that  a  large  majority  of  the  messages  she  gives  are  de- 
signed to  give  advice  to  those  in  need  of  it. 

"Over  in  one  corner  in  a  line  with  her  chair  sits 
Doctor  Funk,  who  has  been  investigating  Mrs.  Pepper. 
He  sits  where  he  can  watch  her  from  the  time  she  comes 
into  the  pulpit  until  she  has  finished.  He  can  watch  the 
pile  of  letters  directed  to  spirit  friends  and  laid  there 
by  the  audience,  and  can  watch  Mrs.  Pepper's  hands. 

"There  is  no  shivering,  no  rubbing  of  the  eyes,  on  the 
part  of  Mrs.  Pepper.  There  is  no  reference  to  any 
'little  Indian  control.'  There  is  no  infantile  prattle  and 
jargon.  From  the  moment  Mrs.  Pepper  picks  up  an 
envelope  from  the  desk  and  begins,  'There  is  a  spirit 
here — a  spirit  comes  to  me — '  except  for  the  faint  rustle 
of  garments  that  accompanies  the  craning  of  heads  to 
see  to  whom  the  message  is  to  be  delivered,  the  place 
is  still  as  death." 


ON  THE  HEIGHTS  37 

Another  illustration  of  the  effect  of  the  meetings  at 
the  First  Spiritual  Church  is  contained  in  this  letter: 

"Since  I  became  a  Spiritualist  I  have  endeavored  to 
bring  my  church  friends  into  this  work ;  many  of  them  I 
have  taken  to  meetings  and  circles.  For  some  reason 
they  always  came  away  disappointed — not  satisfied.  On 
Thursday  evening  I  invited  a  number  of  the  members 
of  Trinity  Church  to  your  meeting.  Your  tests  have 
taken  all  doubts  away  from  them. 

"Much  good  has  been  done  for  Spiritualism  by  these 
meetings.  Your  clear,  undeniable  tests  have  lifted  this 
beautiful  truth  to  a  higher  place  than  it  had  in  the  past 
in  this  city." 

Rev.  Herman  S.  Wallace,  of  Portland,  Oregon,  has 
given  an  account  of  his  experience  at  one  of  the  Brook- 
lyn meetings: 

"Having  lost  some  papers  which  I  valued  highly,  it 
was  suggested  by  someone  that  I  seek  the  aid  of  Mrs. 
Pepper  in  locating  them.  She  immediately  detailed  the 
manner  in  which  I  had  los.t  them,  and  finally  told  me 
just  where  I  would  find  them.  She  further  stated  in 
minute  detail  the  nature  of  the  undertaking  in  the  in- 
terest of  which  I  had  come  to  the  east.  All  that  I  had 
told  her  was  that  I  was  a  Christian  minister  and  had 
mislaid  important  papers. 

"Though  highly  improbable,  it  was  nevertheless  pos- 
sible that  someone  had  informed  her  of  my  movements ; 
she  might  have  had  a  confederate  who  investigated  me, 
so  I  determined  to  employ  another  method.  I  wrote  a 
letter  and  placed  it  on  the  table  in  her  church.  The 
letter  bore  the  name  of  my  hotel  and  my  own  name.  I 
thought  that  this  would  suggest  to  her  that  I  wished  to 
know  something  further  about  my  own  business. 

"But  Mrs.  Pepper  did  not  snatch  at  the  bait  I  had 


38  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

thus  placed  for  her.  Instead  she  looked  astounded,  then 
called  out,  'Why,  Dr.  Wallace,  whatever  can  you  want 
to  know  about  a  concert  singer?  What  can  a  minister 
want  to  know  about  a  singer?' 

"Then,  although  the  envelope  had  remained  sealed  and 
within  my  sight  all  the  time,  she  told  me  just  what  my 
query  was,  and  added  that  someone  had  asked  me  to 
write  about  this  singer.  That  was  perfectly  true.  A 
sister  of  the  singer  had  asked  me  to  find  out  whether 
she  would  return  to  the  United  States  that  summer. 
Mrs.  Pepper  then  stated  where  the  girl  was  staying  in 
London,  and  when  she  would  return." 


CHAPTER  V. 
AMONG  THE  CAMPS 

A  movement  in  which  Spiritualists  in  the  United  States 
have  interested  themselves  for  the  past  half  century,  has 
been  the  encampment  idea.  In  the  Northern  States  many 
such  settlements  have  been  established,  where  during  the 
summer  a  season  of  public  religious  meetings  is  planned 
annually.  Many  mediums,  including  those  not  engaging 
in  platform  phases  of  manifestation,  are  attracted  to  these 
places,  and  private  and  semi-public  seances  of  various 
kinds  are  in  continual  progress.  In  parts  of  the  country 
where  the  climate  is  favorable  for  it,  a  similar  session  is 
held  in  the  winter  months. 

The  record  of  very  many  mediums  highly  developed  in 
platform  demonstration  will  show  that  they  have  taken 
part  in  the  programs  at  the  camps.  Not  a  great  many 
persons  having  strong  psychical  power,  however,  have 
also  been  qualified  to  act  executively  in  forwarding  camp 
work.  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  possessed  executive  ability  in 
marked  degree.  Her  service  as  a  member  of  the  official 
board  in  more  than  one  camp  has  been  of  the  utmost 
value  in  carrying  the  affairs  toward  a  material  as  well  as 
a  spiritual  success.  At  the  time  of  her  transition  she  was 
president  of  Lake  Pleasant  Camp,  Massachusetts,  having 
served  in  that  office  for  five  years,  and  she  had  held  for 
ten  years  the  office  of  president  of  Camp  Etna,  Maine. 
Since  this  presidency  meant  that,  in  addition  to  her 
seances  and  addresses,  she  must  preside  at  all  large  meet- 
ings, and  serve  as  ex-officio  chairman  on  all  committees, 
some  conception  may  be  formed  of  how  arduous  were 
her  camp  duties. 

39 


40  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

There  is  at  a  Spiritualist  camp  an  atmosphere  of  more 
penetrating  psychic  appeal  than  can  be  found  in  any  in- 
door temple  of  worship.  Many  persons  have  observed 
the  spiritual  thrill  which  enwraps  a  visitor  within  some 
building  long  devoted  to  heartfelt  religious  service  under 
any  denominational  head;  this  feeling  may  prevail  alike 
in  a  dim  lit,  tumbledown  shanty,  or  before  the  shining 
altar  of  a  vast  cathedral.  Such  is  the  vibration  sweeping 
a  great  Spiritualistic  encampment,  where  for  years  have 
gathered  those  to  whom  Spiritualism  means  not  only  a 
scientific  pursuit,  not  only  a  philosophy  upon  which  to 
frame  psychological  conclusions,  but  a  strong  religion 
whereon  man's  soul  may' anchor.  Skeptics  who  take  the 
trouble  to  visit  the  camps  are  usually  honest  inquirers. 
They  have  not  dropped  in  by  chance,  but  have  made  effort 
to  attend  in  order  to  learn.  The  mere  wonder-seekers 
are  so  far  outnumbered  by  the  reverent  believers  in  the 
audiences,  that  there  is  no  impatient  rustle;  no  rudeness 
of  whispered  remarks  competes  with  the  words  of  any 
lecturer  or  giver  of  messages.  There  is  silence  in  these 
assemblies — a  silence  pregnant  with  emotion — the  silence 
in  which  angels  approach. 

If  the  subtle  auraic  effect  at  a  camp  accumulates  force 
enough  for  its  refreshing  breath  to  be  felt  by  many  lay- 
men, with  what  added  gratefulness  must  it  mingle  with 
the  sensitiveness  of  a  psychic?  An  influence  of  this  sort 
may  have  been  a  prime  cause  for  Mrs.  Vanderbilt's  liking 
for  camp  environment.  At  any  rate,  it  is  safe  to  assert 
that  she  took  greater  personal  pleasure  in  camp  work  than 
in  any  of  her  engagements  in  cities  and  towns.  And,  in- 
deed, at  the  camps  she  was  as  a  star  of  the  first  magni- 
tude, whose  radiance  pointed  the  way  for  unnumbered 
throngs. 

An  announcement  that  she  was  to  appear  at  Unity 
Camp,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Lynn  Spiritualists'  Asso- 
ciation, would  draw  thousands  to  hear  her  lecture,  which 
would  be  followed  by  marvelous  tests.  In  1907,  at  Unity 


AMONG  THE  CAMPS  41 

Camp,  Saugus  Centre,  there  were  people  present  from 
Boston,  Stoneham,  Chelsea,  Salem,  Marblehead,  Beverley, 
Swampscott,  Newburyport,  Melrose  and  Lynn — in  such 
numbers  that  the  auditorium  was  not  large  enough  to 
accommodate  the  vast  crowd  which  had  come  from  far 
and  near. 

The  camp  at  Lake  Pleasant,  Massachusetts,  was  noted 
for  its  endeavor  to  secure  exceptional  talent  to  grace  its 
rostrum.  When  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  gave  a  discourse  and 
messages  at  this  place,  the  biggest  crowd  assembled  there 
since  the  time  of  Ingersoll.  In  1915  she  became  president 
of  this  Association,  and  held  that  office  to  the  close  of  her 
earth  life. 

Before  Camp  Progress  Spiritualist  Association,  at 
Upper  Swampscott,  many  came  from  Salem,  Boston, 
Beverly,  Nahant,  Lynn  and  other  Massachusetts  towns; 
while  a  large  party  came  all  the  way  from  Providence, 
Rhode  Island.  From  twelve  to  fifteen  hundred  people 
heard  each  of  the  addresses. 

At  one  of  her  lectures  at  this  session  of  meetings,  she 
strongly  voiced  a  bit  of  Spiritualistic  knowledge  which 
can  not  too  often  be  reiterated: 

"It  is  a  grave  mistake  to  suppose  that  all  spirits  who 
return  after  death  are  bad  spirits.  This  is  a  thought 
which  will  turn  people  away  from  God.  The  character 
of  spirits  depends  upon  the  lives  they  led  before  leaving 
their  material  bodies.  If  we  lead  noble,  upright  lives,  we 
shall  become  as  angels,  but  if  we  sin  and  do  not  repent 
we  shall  exist  in  the  spiritual  world  in  much  the  same 
unhappy  way  that  we  lived  in  the  flesh." 

The  camp  at  Onset  Bay,  Massachusetts,  also  repeatedly 
was  favored  with  her  presence.  A  few  of  the  tests  given 
there  on  one  occasion  found  their  way  into  news  columns, 
thus  making  it  possible  to  revive  them  in  the  words  in 
which  they  were  given: 


42  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

« 

"A  spirit  of  a  little  girl  wants  to  reach  her  papa.  She 
gives  her  name  as  Mamie — Mamie — Benedict.  Does  any- 
body recognize  this?" 

"Here,"  replied  a  man. 
"Do  you  know  who  George  Keeler  is?" 
"I  do." 

"He  says  he  was  your  brother-in-law." 
"Yes;  that's  so." 

"Another  spirit  comes,  giving  the  name  of  Noah." 
"Yes;  I  recognize  him." 

"The  little  girl  says  she  passed  away  in  your  arms  when 
she  was  five  years  old.    How  about  that?" 
"That  is  correct." 

After  a  meeting  at  Compounce  Camp,  Connecticut,  a 
newspaper  account  gave  praise : 

"Whether  one  believes  in  Spiritualism  or  not,  one  must 
admit  that  Mrs.  Pepper  is  a  fine  platform  speaker  and  a 
marvelously  clever  woman.  In  an  address  lasting  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  she  held  her  audience  spellbound,  and 
then  came  the  tests  that  occupied  fully  an  hour.  Sealed 
envelopes  had  been  placed  on  her  desk  by  many  of  those 
present.  Picking  these  up  apparently  at  random,  Mrs. 
Pepper  proceeded  to  tell  what  was  the  query  contained 
therein.  Not  once  did  she  fail,  and  it  must  be  said  that 
the  information  given  was  not  the  wishy-washy  stuff  most 
mediums  deal  out,  but  good,  common  sense  matter.  Not 
in  a  single  instance  did  she  fail  to  tell  correctly  all  proper 
names  that  were  in  the  letters.  Whether  this  is  mind 
reading  or  something  else,  it  can  be  said  that  this  woman 
is  head  and  shoulders  above  most  of  those  who  practice 
her  calling." 


AMONG  THE  CAMPS  43 


MRS.  VANDERBILT  AND  CAMP  ETNA 

Serving  Camp  Etna  for  seventeen  seasons,  and  acting 
as  president  of  that  Association  the  last  ten  years  of  her 
earth  life,  it  is  not  extravagant  to  claim  that  Etna  became 
to  Mary  Vanderbilt  the  dearest  spot  on  earth. 

The  Banner  of  Life,  in  its  issue  of  August  12,  1916, 
contained  a  bit  about  Camp  Etna  which  Mrs.  Vanderbilt 
herself  had  written : 

"Sixteen  miles  west  of  Bangor,  nestling  among  the 
pines  in  one  of  Maine's  productive  valleys,  lies  Camp 
Etna,  the  camp  where  Harrison  D.  Barrett  received  his 
early  physical  and  mental  training  as  well  as  his  first 
spiritual  lessons;  and  where,  as  president  of  the  Na- 
tional Association  of  Spiritualists,  he  returned  just  twenty 
years  ago,  with  a  party  of  friends,  which  included  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  B.  B.  Hill  of  Philadelphia,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Cad- 
wallader  (of  everywhere),  Dr.  H.  B.  Storer,  president 
of  Onset ;  A.  J.  Maxhan,  the  sweet  singer,  and  the  writer. 

"Out  of  that  party,  today  only  two  remain  in  the  phys- 
ical— Mrs.  Cadwallader  and  the  writer  of  this  article. 

"Each  year  as  I  journey  back  to  camp  I  review  the 
years  and  what  they  have  brought  to  Etna,  and  what  Etna 
has  contributed  to  the  cause.  Etna  has  the  distinct  honor 
of  being  the  only  Spiritualist  camp  where  a  nominee  for 
governor  came  for  strength  and  courage,  and  found  the 
light  in  a  personal  message  which  his  election  verified. 
During  his  term  of  office  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  Spirit- 
ualism he  gave  the  camp  a  'governor's  day,'  Spiritualism 
being  the  only  religious  cult  receiving  such  an  honor. 

"From  a  small  camp  of  early  days  when  three  or  four 
hundred  congregated  on  Sundays  to  hear  our  speakers, 
many  thousands  now  constitute  the  audiences  at  our  Sun- 
day services.  And  all  over  Maine  this  great  truth  from 
Etna  has  shed  its  light,  until  to  this  Mecca  of  Spiritualism 


44  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

have  come  Maine's  most  gifted  sons  and  daughters.  In 
consequence  it  became  the  birth  spot  of  new  thought 
along  theological  and  scientific  lines,  and  the  baptismal 
fount  of  the  knowledge  of  life's  continuity." 

Said  a  prominent  Spiritualistic  speaker,  in  alluding  to 
the  throngs  at  Etna:  "They  come  in  farmers'  carts — in 
wagons — in  anything — the  Lord  only  knows  how  they  all 
do  get  there."  That  hosts  of  people  came  was  another 
reason  why  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  liked  Camp  Etna.  It  was 
possible  for  her  to  reach  a  multitude  there.  She  has 
said,  "I  like  large  audiences ;  I  like  light,"  explaining  that 
with  a  small  number  of  people  there  may  not  be  many 
who  reach  out  strongly  to  friends  in  spirit;  or  most  of 
those  present  may  have  led  colorless  lives,  with  few  points 
upon  which  to  strike  an  electric  contact  to  fire  not  only 
one  soul  but  scores. 

The  airy,  open  auditorium  of  a  camp  will  permit  larger 
numbers  than  could  be  accommodated  in  a  city  church 
or  hall,  to  listen  comfortably.  Further,  a  wider  territory 
can  be  drawn  upon  for  a  camp  audience.  But  given  these 
two  conditions,  a  speaker  or  medium  must  be  truly  great 
who  can  continue  to  attract  audiences  averaging  five 
thousand.  Therefore  a  rare  endowment  is  chronicled  in 
a  single  statement  when  the  fact  is  set  down  that  at  Camp 
Etna  it  was  no  uncommon  thing,  upon  ascending  the  ros- 
trum, for  Mary  Vanderbilt  to  face  TEN  THOUSAND  people, 
drawn  there  in  the  hope  and  knowledge  that  she  would 
act  as  interpreter  for  the  angel  world. 


HOME    OF    MRS.    VANDERBILT 
587  St.  Marks  Ave.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
SUNSET 

The  1918  season  at  Camp  Etna,  Maine,  was  marked 
by  many  special  features.  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  had  arranged 
an  especially  attractive  program  and  when  she  returned 
to  her  Brooklyn  home  in  September  after  her  strenuous 
camp  work  she  became  ill,  but  after  a  short  time  insisted 
upon  taking  up  her  work  again. 

Then  she  was  taken  with  influenza  which  left  her  so 
weak  that  for  a  time  her  life  was  despaired  of.  However, 
with  her  determined  will  she  fought  off  the  illness,  dur- 
ing which  she  was  tenderly  cared  for;  and  as  time  went 
on  she  felt  that  she  would  like  to  go  among  the  Spiritual- 
ists of  New  England  in  the  hope  that  meeting  and  greet- 
ing them  would  give  her  new  strength. 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  went  to  Providence,  where  she  stayed 
with  an  old  friend,  Mrs.  Lowe.  Later  going  to  Boston 
to  consult  a  specialist,  she  grew  rapidly  worse  and  for 
several  weeks  was  unable  to  leave  the  Parker  House. 
Everything  that  loving  hearts  and  capable  hands  could 
do  for  her  was  done  to  no  avail.  Her  spirit  was  willing 
but  the  flesh  was  weak. 

HER  LAST  ADDRESS 

The  seventy-first  anniversary  of  Modern  Spiritualism 
was  being  celebrated  in  Berkeley  Hall,  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Massachusetts  State  Association. 

Although  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  had  been  so  ill  that  her  life 
was  despaired  of,  she  felt  the  spirit  urge,  and  insisted 
upon  attending  the  exercises. 

45 


46  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

Accompanied  by  her  sister,  Miss  Harriet  Scannell, 
Mrs.  M.  E.  Cadwallader  and  Mr.  Luey  Hill,  Mrs.  Van- 
derbilt  went  for  the  last  time  to  a  Spiritualist  meeting. 
There  in  Berkeley  Hall  she  delivered  an  address — her 
valedictory. 

The  ovation  accorded  her  by  the  audience,  who  knew 
she  had  been  ill,  and  were  glad  to  see  her  out  again,  was 
a  heartfelt  testimonial  to  her  worth  and  her  work. 

President  Wiggin  welcomed  her  to  the  platform. 
"Words,"  said  he,  "cannot  express  my  gratification  at 
your  being  here  and  at  my  being  honored  in  giving  you 
welcome  and  presenting  you  to  the  people." 

Amid  an  enthusiasm  that  was  unbounded,  Mrs.  Van- 
derbilt  rose  to  her  feet,  and  in  a  voice  trembling  with 
emotion  dwelt  upon  her  first  appearance  at  Berkeley 
Hall,  almost  twenty-four  years  earlier.  It  was,  she  said, 
as  if  a  procession  of  spirit  witnesses  passed  in  vision 
before  her,  as  she  named  Dr.  H.  B.  Storer,  Amelia  Colby 
Luther,  R.  S.  Lillie,  J.  D.  Stiles,  Frank  Baxter,  W.  J. 
Colville,  W.  Banks,  Harrison  D.  Barrett,  and  many 
others. 

"They  have  gone  to  their  reward."  Mrs.  Vanderbilt 
declared.  "Who  will  take  their  places?" 

Her  voice  rang  out  strong  and  clear  as  she  declared 
her  devotion  to  Spiritualism. 

Earnestly  she  urged  all  to  be  steadfast  to  the  call  of 
the  spirit,  to  be  true  to  the  cause  of  Spiritualism.  She 
recounted  the  blessings  that  had  come  to  all  through  the 
knowledge  of  continued  life.  Every  eye  was  upon  her. 
Many  of  those  who  were  gathered  at  the  meeting  never 
expected  to  see  her  again.  She  spoke  with  deep  feeling, 
every  word  emphasized  as  though  she  wanted  to  impress 
her  statement  upon  her  hearers. 

"My  friends,"  she  said  as  she  finished,  "I  have  found 
Spiritualism  a  good  thing  to  live  by;  and  I  have  come 
pretty  close  to  finding  it  a  good  thing  to  die  by." 


SUNSET  47 

This  was  her  last  public  utterance.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered upon  each  anniversary.  No  recanting,  no  thought 
of  anything  save  that  Spiritualism  had  been  her  staff 
through  life,  and  that  she  had  found  it  safe  to  lean  upon 
even  to  the  end. 


"Sunset  and  evening  star, 

And  one  clear  call  for  me! 
And  may  there  be  no  moaning  of  the  bar, 
When  I  put  out  to  sea. 

But  such  a  tide  as  moving  seems  asleep, 

Too  full  for  sound  and  foam, 
When  that  which  drew  from  out  the  boundless  deep 

Turns  again  home. 

Twilight  and  evening  bell, 

And  after  that  the  dark ! 
And  may  there  be  no  sadness  of  farewell, 

When  I  embark. 

For  tho'  from  out  our  bourne  of  Time  and  Place 

The  flood  may  bear  me  far, 
I  hope  to  see  my  Pilot  face  to  face 

When  I  have  crossed  the  bar." 

The  call  promoting  her  to  a  higher  plane  came  with 
sudden  announcement  to  the  world  of  Spiritualism.  But 
here  and  there,  for  some  months  previous,  her  words  had  \ 
shown  that  she  subconsciously  sensed  or  had  been  in  a 
manner  reminded  that  "some  day  the  silver  cord  shall 
break."  It  was  in  her  native  New  England — at  Boston — 
that  her  spirit  emerged  from  earth  conditions  on  Sunday 
morning,  April  27,  1919.  Close  to  her  at  the  time  was 
the  love  and  affection  of  those  then  nearest  in  her  life — 
her  husband,  E.  W.  Vandcrbilt;  her  sister,  Miss  Har- 


48  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

net  Scannell,  and  a  lifelong  friend,  W.  R.  Fales,  of 
Providence,  Rhode  Island.  It  may  well  be  said  that  a 
mighty  leader  has  fallen  a  tower  of  strength  to  the  cause 
of  Spiritualism  and  has  passed  to  eternal  life. 

It  was  in  compliance  with  her  request  that  the  ashes  of 
her  body  were  interred  in  the  camp  ground  at  Etna, 
Maine.  On  that  spot  has  been  placed  a  New  England 
boulder,  with  the  simple  inscription — 

MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 
1919 

Not  a  long  life,  but  one  rich  in  results — one  which  may 
be  chosen  as  a  model  of  perseverance  and  devotion  to  the 
perfecting  of  a  God-given  talent.  Yet  it  is  more  than 
this.  It  represents  the  use  of  that  talent  in  such  a  way 
that  a  light  shines  back  upon  the  memory  of  Mary  Van- 
derbilt  out  of  the  hearts  of  thousands ;  that  greatest  light 
in  the  keeping  of  human  kind — Love. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
TRANSITION  SERVICE 

OF 

MARY  SCANNELL  VANDERBILT 

REV.  FREDERICK  A.  WIGGIN,  PASTOR  OF  UNITY  CHURCH 
OF  BOSTON  (MASS.)  OFFICIATING 

The  transition  services  were  held  at  the  residence  of 
Mrs.  Herbert  Lowe,  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island. 

So  lifelike  was  the  appearance  of  the  deserted  body, 
that  it  seemed  its  tenant  might  be  quietly  sleeping,  sur- 
rounded by  flowers.  Into  the  silence  of  those  assembled 
came  the  hymn,  rendered  by  a  male  quartette,  "Lead, 
Kindly  Light."  After  a  prayer  and  the  reading  of  the 
Twenty-third  Psalm  and  other  selections,  the  singers 
followed  with  "When  the  Mists  Have  Rolled  Away." 

Mr.  Wiggin  was  deeply  affected  when  he  said: 

"For  about  thirty-four  years  I  have  known  Mrs.  Van- 
derbilt  as  a  public  worker.  Her  labors  in  behalf  of 
Spiritualism  have  been  distinctly  marked  and  affirma- 
tively telling.  I  have  known  her  equally  well  and  long 
in  private  life. 

"As  a  Spiritualist  she  was  fearless  and  intensely 
earnest.  I  make  a  conservative  statement  when  I  say 
Mrs.  Vanderbilt,  as  a  chosen  instrument  of  the  spirit- 
world,  brought  more  comfort  to  sorrowing  hearts  than 
any  other  woman  of  her  time. 

49 


50  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

"The  principal  thing  the  thinking  world  desires  is 
simply  happiness.  By  spirit-voiced  messages  she  brought 
happiness  to  thousands  upon  thousands. 

"When  Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle  and  others  write  so 
eloquently  upon  matters  psychic,  the  whole  world  reads 
with  unusual  interest  all  they  say  upon  the  subject  of 
Spiritualism — and  this  is  as  it  should  be.  But  how  few, 
while  reading  the  words  of  these  great  men,  stop  to 
think  that  these  writers  would  have  nothing  of  value  to 
utter  concerning  spirit  phenomena  if  it  were  not  for 
such  mediums  as  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  was;  through  whose 
organism  the  spirit  world  poured  forth  with  such  great 
abundance,  the  truth  that  life  really  continues  after 
physical  dissolution,  and  that  the  so-termed  dead  do  ac- 
tually return. 

"The  name  of  one  who  has  been  an  instrument  where- 
by even  a  single  genuine  message  has  been  brought  to 
earth's  people  from  a  higher  life,  should  be  immortal- 
ized. Mrs.  Vanderbilt  brought  not  merely  one,  but 
hundreds  of  such  messages,  through  the  help  of  her 
spirit  guides. 

"Our  arisen  sister  was  a  profound  thinker  upon  mat- 
ters pertaining  to  Spiritualism.  She  was  a  strong  and 
consistent  advocate  of  a  thorough  organization  of  the 
followers  of  this  cult.  She  was  an  eloquent  speaker, 
and  in  a  forceful,  telling  manner  drove  home  to  thou- 
sands the  truth  of  spiritual  philosophy.  As  a  psychic 
she  was  excelled  by  none.  How  many  have  hung  upon 
her  utterances,  as  impelled  by  her  guides,  for  some  word 
or  words  to  relieve  them  of  sorrow  and  depression.  How 
many  thousands  have  received  from  her  guides  the  mag- 
ical words  that  did  replace  their  gloom  with  joy! 

"Quietly  yet  effectively  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  gave  great 
help  to  many  a  medium  struggling  to  acquire  added  power 
as  a  psychic  and  seeking  opportunity  to  express  it  when 
acquired.  There  are  many  who  are  grateful  for  the  help 
she  gave  them.  She  was  liberal  of  her  rare  talents  and 


TRANSITION  SERVICE  51 

of  her  money.  Many  a  strong  Spiritualist  society  owes 
its  strength  to  her  generosity,  her  earnest,  unselfish  aid, 
her  freely  bestowed  benefactions.  Many  an  individual 
life  has  been  brightened  by  her  encouragement  and  her 
liberality.  She  never  stinted  effort  nor  aid  where  either 
was  needed.  Her  good  deeds  done  among  the  poor  and 
needy  were  many  indeed,  but  never  ostentatious.  She 
sought  to  do  what  good  she  might,  but  always  with  a 
hidden  hand.  The  good  she  did  was  done  for  its  own 
sake;  with  never  a  thought  of  its  becoming  known  or 
bringing  thanks.  The  first  law  of  life  is  service.  If 
anyone  ever  lived  by  that  law,  she  did,  quietly,  as  a 
matter  of  course.  It  was  her  way. 

"My  stammering  tongue  almost  fails  me,  for  as  your 
hearts  are  heavy,  mine  is  too.  If  I  were  permitted,  I 
would  sit  among  you  today,  silent  with  my  tears.  But 
I  must  honor  a  request  our  arisen  sister  made  of  me, 
and  speak,  now  that  her  lips  are  silent. 

"Some,  seeing  the  still  form  lying  there  may  ask, 
'Where  is  the  living  soul-principle  that  only  yesterday 
animated  that  form?'  We  feel  sure  we  can  answer  that 
question. 

"Even  while  confined  by  the  limitations  to  which  all 
flesh  is  heir,  one  can  feel  a  love  that  is  strong;  but  those 
limitations  often  restrain  its  expression.  Once  we  are 
emancipated  from  them,  we  will  find  that  the  real  self 
is  love.  Physical  bondage  holds  it  from  being  where 
those  are  toward  whom  it  most  stressfully  yearns. 

"Those  whom  our  dear  sister  loves  are  many  indeed, 
but  some,  dearest  of  all  to  her,  are  paying  loving  tribute 
to  her  memory.  She  would  express  her  love  still  to  all 
whom  she  loved,  and  we  know  she  is  no  longer  prevented 
from  doing  so  since  the  soul  has  no  limitations;  and  it 
is  at  once  the  logical  thing  to  expect  her  to  be  where 
those  she  loved  are;  and  she  is  here  with  you.  I  can 
seem  now  to  see  her  smiling  face,  to  hear  her  voice.  She 
would  not  have  us  call  her  back  into  the  body  of  flesh. 


52  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

She  is  now  of  the  spiritual  body;  for  her  there  is  only 
life  and  happiness.  She  would  not  be  called  back,  but 
rather  is  she  calling  us  to  that  fair  land.  To  one  and  all 
of  you  she  will  sometime  speak  again  face  to  face,  and 
her  words  will  be  not  a  sad  good-night,  but  a  glad  good- 
morning." 

The  quartet  then  sang  "Abide  With  Me,"  after  which 
Mr.  Wiggin  pronounced  the  committal  service. 

The  deserted  body  was  later  taken  to  Forest  Hill  for 
cremation,  and,  at  her  request  the  ashes  rest  at  the  Etna 
(Maine)  camp  grounds. 


CHAPTER  Vin. 
MEMORIAL  SERVICE 

REV.  F.  A.  WIGGIN 

Sunday,  May  25,  1919,  Unity  Church 

Boston,  Massachusetts 

It  is  particularly  fitting  that  we  gather  here  in  com- 
memoration of  our  sister  and  her  work.  My  memory 
goes  back  to  the  time  when  she  stood  here  in  the  physical 
form,  speaking  to  an  audience  which  filled  every  seat  in 
this  large  auditorium. 

I  wonder  if  the  people  who  flocked  here  and  elsewhere 
for  her  messages,  remember  her  for  what  she  has  done 
for  them? 

Are  we  Spiritualists  after  the  loaves  and  fishes,  and 
less  anxious  for  the  truth  which  blesses  us? 

I  have  already  paid  my  tribute  to  her  life,  for  love  has 
no  tribute. 

It  is  an  all-enduring,  everlasting  love. 

Love  never  forgets,  it  merely  feels. 

No  one  can  describe  what  love  is.    Love  is  so  large. 

No  human  tongue  can  express  it. 

I  often  wonder  what  love  is. 

Why  do  we  mourn  for  the  physical  loss  of  a  friend? 
Did  we  become  fully  acquainted  with  the  soul  of  that 
friend,  and  the  spirit  which  never  dies? 

Why  should  we  mourn  when  the  tenement  dissolves? 
Is  it  not  because  we  were  not  so  well  acquainted  with 
the  real  spirit? 

63 


64  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

I  am  convinced  by  experience  that  those  we  love  we 
never  forget.  We  do  not  need  any  photograph  of  the 
physical  body  by  which  to  remember  them. 

It  has  been  said  that  our  sister  reached  many  people 
with  an  uplift. 

She  certainly  convinced  them  of  the  continuity  of  life, 
a  conviction  which  in  itself  is  an  uplift. 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  had  spiritual  vision  in  a  remarkable 
degree. 

When  she  was  at  Lakewood,  where  I  was  President 
for  nine  years,  and  introduced  her  to  the  people  many 
times,  it  was  wonderful  to  note  how  crowds  came  when 
she  was  going  to  speak. 

Why  did  she  attract  so  many  people?  Was  it  because 
she  was  advertised  largely? 

When  you  advertise  an  inefficient  individual,  you 
hasten  his  downfall.  If  one  of  merit  occupies  the  plat- 
form, the  people  come  again. 

She  touched  some  part  of  human  nature  with  a  spirit- 
ual message,  which  carried  convincing  testimony  to  the 
one  receiving  it. 

Sometimes  it  seemed  only  like  the  snap  of  a  finger, 
and  every  doubt  vanished. 

She  was  a  medium  after  my  own  heart. 

One  feature  I  admired,  was,  her  fearlessness  and  de- 
termination. 

Though  as  kind  as  generosity  itself,  she  could  cut  off 
some  people  with  a  word.  In  the  case  of  other  messages, 
when  the  individual  receiving  one  for  the  first  time,  and 
was  touched  to  tears,  I  have  seen  May  shedding  tears 
also. 

Her  heart  was  so  large,  the  ordinary  person  could  not 
comprehend  it. 

She  was  never  satisfied  with  less  than  the  best. 

She  fought  her  way  along  the  path  of  contention, 
largely  from  Spiritualists. 


MEMORIAL  SERVICE  55 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt,  wherever  she  went,  stood  between 
the  living  and  the  dead. 

We  are  the  dead  and  the  world  of  the  dying ;  she  spoke 
from  the  world  of  the  living  to  the  world  of  the  dead 
and  the  dying. 

We  must  remember  her  for  far  more  than  her  mes- 
sages. 

Miss  SUSIE  C.  CLARK 

"You  call  her  dead! 

And  yet  she  lives  and  loves!    O  wondrous  truth! 
'Neath  golden  skies  she  breathes  immortal  youth! 
Look  upward!    Where  the  roseate  sunset  beams, 
Her  spirit  form  amid  the  brightness  gleams." 

Among  the  many  just  and  richly  deserved  tributes  paid 
to  our  arisen  sister  by  our  pastor,  mention  was  made  of 
her  great  generosity  of  heart,  her  helpfulness  to  younger 
mediums  and  other  workers. 

For  this  statement  made  me  hark  back  to  the  exper- 
ience of  a  young  woman  whom  I  knew,  who  once  made 
a  visit  to  the  Lakewood  Camp  in  Madison,  Maine. 

She  was  a  stranger,  save  to  one  or  two  of  the  talent. 

She  arrived  after  dark,  and  alone,  and  expected  to 
remain  unnoticed  and  unknown  while  enjoying  the  work 
of  others. 

There  was  an  open  conference  or  discussion  that  eve- 
ning, upon  the  subject  of  healing,  and  our  sister,  May 
Pepper  she  was  then,  was  called  upon  for  her  remarks. 

She  came  forward  and  regretted  that  she  was  incap- 
able of  giving  the  audience  much  light  upon  this  theme. 
Her  appointed  work  lay  along  different  lines. 

"But,"  said  she,  with  emphasis,  "we  have  a  visitor  with 
us  this  evening,  who  can  tell  you  more  about  healing  in 
five  minutes  than  I  could  in  a  week.  My  contribution 


56  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

to  your  subject  in  comparison  with  hers  would  be  like 
one  little  wavelet  to  the  broad  lake  out  here." 

And  so  the  stranger  was  brought  forward  and  intro- 
duced to  the  notice  and  acquaintance  of  all,  and  her  small 
light  made  visible  through  the  generous  kindness  of  Mrs. 
Vanderbilt. 

Now  wasn't  that  a  beautiful  thing  to  do?  So  thought- 
ful, self -eclipsing;  and  she  did  not  know  it  would  be 
remembered  and  rebound  to  her  credit  and  praise,  after 
her  kind  heart  had  ceased  to  beat. 

Many  other  instances  of  her  generous  service  could  be 
recalled,  but  this  one  will  always  remain  a  beautiful  mem- 
ory to  that  visiting  stranger. 

When  she  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  Brooklyn,  on  one 
occasion  she  was  giving  a  prolonged  message  to  a  woman 
in  the  audience,  when  suddenly,  in  the  midst  of  a  sen- 
tence, she  shouted  to  a  policeman  standing  in  the  door- 
way: 

"Officer,  seize  that  boy  going  by  you!  He  has  just 
stolen  the  purse  of  the  lady  sitting  next  to  him." 

And  then  she  proceeded  with  her  message  without  the 
slightest  break  in  interest,  or  in  the  quality  of  her  clair- 
voyance, while  the  officer  went  after  the  lad  and  recov- 
ered the  stolen  wallet. 

It  would  seem  sometimes  as  if  she  had,  like  the  angels 
watching  above  us,  an  all-seeing  vision. 

At  another  meeting  in  the  same  hall,  she  gave  the  name 
of  a  spirit  to  a  gentleman  sitting  near  the  front,  who 
resolutely  refused  to  recognize  it  as  one  he  had  ever 
heard  of. 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  contested  that  the  spirit  said  he  knew 
him,  and  as  further  proof  of  his  identity,  he  would  say 
that  he  went  out  of  life  by  being  murdered. 

Again  the  man  protested  his  inability  to  recall  the 
name  or  incident,  and  the  medium  finished  her  message 
by  saying: 


MEMORIAL  SERVICE  57 

"Well,  the  spirit  says  it  is  very  singular  you  cannot 
recall  him,  since  you  are  the  only  person  on  earth  who 
knows  who  murdered  him." 

Whereupon  the  man  seized  his  hat  and  hastily  left  the 
hall. 

Perhaps  in  the  future,  when  wars  are  over  and  the 
planet  grows  riper,  we  shall  have  even  more  wonderful 
media,  but  let  us  appreciate  and  give  thanks  for  this  rare 
flower  of  mediumship,  this  queen  of  the  spiritual  plat- 
form— Mary  S.  Vanderbilt. 

"Call  her  not  dead. 

O  speak  not  thus!    Her  tender  heart  you  grieve 
And  'twixt  her  love  and  yours  a  barrier  weave, 
Call  her  by  sweetest  name,  your  voice  she'll  hear, 
And  through  the  darkness  like  a  star  appear." 

MRS.. NETTIE  HOLT  HARDING 

My  thought  goes  back  to  our  sister's  first  engagement 
in  Berkeley  Hall.  How  many  of  her  hearers  since  then 
have  gone  into  the  spirit-world  far  more  beautiful  than 
they  would  have  been  but  for  her  ministry ! 

To  me,  this  going  out  proves  the  beauty  of  Spiritual- 
ism, for  she  brought  sweet  comfort  and  consolation  to 
human  hearts.  To  me  it  is  only  taking  a  broad  and  beau- 
tiful journey,  which  every  human  soul  must  take  some- 
time, when  we  shall  clasp  hands  with  those  who  have 
preceded  us,  and  our  own  souls  will  be  illumined  by  the 
power  of  Spirit. 

Our  dear  sister  and  co-worker  had  traveled  and  spoken 
all  over  the  country.  How  many  thousands  she  has 
reached  and  convinced  them  of  the  continuity  of  life! 

Let  our  thoughts  go  to  her  companion,  may  the  sun- 
shine enter  his  home  and  bring  back  to  his  consciousness 
the  sweet  voice  which  now  is  silent. 

These  flowers  bespeak  the  love  felt  for  her  spirit. 


58  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

Lakewood  has  been  mentioned  here,  and  this  brings 
the  thought  of  how  she  is  loved  throughout  the  State  of 
Maine. 

Let  us  gird  on  our  armor  and  go  forth  in  the  pathway 
she  trod,  not  doing  just  her  work  perhaps,  but  giving 
forth  that  which  is  within  us ;  and  some  day  our  acquaint- 
ance with  our  sister  shall  be  renewed,  and  the  glad  hand- 
shake will  be  ours. 

MRS.  H.  C.  BERRY 

The  lips  are  closed,  the  heart  ceases  to  beat,  the  voice 
refuses  to  speak;  yet  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  your  friend 
and  mine,  in  whose  memory  we  have  met  this  Sabbath 
morning,  still  lives. 

No  one  has  ever  come  into  the  spiritual  field  of  labor, 
whose  work  has  been  recognized  so  widely,  as  hers  has 
been.  No  one  was  so  tender  in  feeling  as  she,  for  those 
who  had  not  reached  the  heights  she  had.  Truly,  she 
will  be  remembered  by  what  she  has  done,  and  hundreds 
all  over  the  land  will  look  up  and  call  her  blessed. 

We,  who  understand  something  of  Spiritualism,  know 
that  as  she  becomes  stronger,  and  her  aspiration  goes  out. 
we  will  get  kindly  messages  from  her. 

Let  us  do  the  best  we  can,  not  so  well  as  our  friend 
has  done  perhaps,  but  our  best,  and  she  will  smile  upon 
and  bless  us.  She  will  be  watching  and  waiting  for  you. 

Let  us  live  realizing  the  stupendous  power  about  us. 

Then  when  we  go  hence,  those  we  love  and  who  loved 
us  will  receive  us  with  a  gladsome  smile. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
TRIBUTES 

A  HUSBAND'S  TRIBUTE 

i 

E.  W.  VANDERBILT 

"Come,  see  the  man  who  has  told  me  everything." 

This  was  the  exclamation  of  the  woman  who  was  at 
the  well,  when  the  Master  appeared,  and  she  ran  to  her 
friends  trembling  because  this  great  communication  was 
received  by  her  from  a  stranger. 

In  rehearsing  the  short  life  of  Mrs.  Vanderbilt,  the 
words  of  the  woman  at  the  well  have  been  repeated  many 
times  during  the  administration  of  her  wonderful  power 
of  spirit  communication. 

The  little  boy  in  a  strange  land,  whose  mother  had  left 
him  and  became  a  spirit — and  he  was  lost  to  know  where 
to  find  his  father.  Then  he  wrote  a  letter  to  his  spirit 
mother  asking  the  question,  if  she  could  tell  him  where 
his  father  was.  His  spirit  mother  came  to  Mrs.  Van- 
derbilt and  told  him  to  write  to  a  certain  city  where  his 
father  was,  and  he  would  receive  a  communication  from 
him.  The  little  fellow  brought  the  communication  to  the 
meeting  and  read  it  to  the  audience,  showing  what  his 
angel  mother  had  done  for  him. 

This  is  only  one  of  the  myriads  of  the  communica- 
tions that  came  through  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  to  those  who 
were  sorrowing  in  heart ;  and  in  one  case  was  ready  to 
destroy  her  body  life.  She  too  wrote  a  letter  to  her 
spirit  mother,  and  laid  it  on  the  altar  at  the  meeting. 
Then  that  spirit  mother  came  to  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  and 

59 


60  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

told  her  daughter  to  give  to  the  medium  the  bottle  she 
had  in  her  pocket  and  then  gave  her  directions  what  to 
do  and  so  helped  her  out  of  the  predicament  she  was  in, 
through  which  she  was  going  to  destroy  herself. 

These  two  little  instances  were  only  a  few  of  the  great 
many  communications  that  came  to  her  from  those  who 
had  passed  into  the  spirit  life,  and  wanted  to  relieve 
those  who  were  in  distress,  in  despair,  and  were  almost 
giving  up  hope;  and  at  the  last  moment  turned  to  her 
meeting,  with  letters  and  communications  to  those  in 
spirit  life,  for  guidance  and  help  in  order  to  overcome 
the  struggle  and  the  suffering  and  the  doubt  that  was 
surrounding  them  in  this  material  life  here. 

When  we  compare  her  great  and  noble  work,  unselfish, 
but  so  imbued  with  her  religious  faith  that  the  spirit 
world  had  educated  her  into,  it  was  like  feeding  the  mul- 
titude, as  the  Master  did  with  his  few  loaves  and  fishes, 
by  which  the  blessing  extended  beyond  the  limit  of  the 
comprehension  of  the  mortal,  into  the  comprehension  of 
spirit.  It  was  like  sowing  good  seed  on  good  ground, 
and  it  produced  more  than  a  hundred-fold  of  blessings 
to  those  who  attended  her  meeting.  It  gave  them  new 
life  and  inspiration.  It  showed  them  where  the  fountain 
of  living  waters  was  continually  flowing  to  those  who 
were  in  need. 

So  as  mortal  lips  try  to  express  the  meaning  of  those 
great  communications,  it  is  like  asking  an  infant  to 
repeat  the  Ten  Commandments  given  to  Moses.  It  is 
beyond  the  comprehension  of  the  mortal  to  solve  the 
spirit,  and  I  do  not  wonder  that  they  went  away  mysti- 
fied, unable  to  comprehend  the  great  work  she  was  doing, 
standing  as  an  ambassador  from  the  angel  world  to  this. 
Then,  do  you  wonder,  when  the  truth  of  Spiritualism 
was  expounded  by  facts  and  reality  that  the  evil-doers 
did  not  want  their  life  read  to  them,  and  when  one  in 
that  great  audience  had  committed  wrong,  and  was  deny- 
ing the  truth  of  that  communication,  when  the  spirit 


TRIBUTES  61 

pointed  to  him,  saying,  "You  know  the  man  who  com- 
mitted the  act,  and  you  cannot  deny  it" — he  suddenly 
left  the  audience,  condemned  because  he  was  the  guilty 
one. 

How  many  people  walking  in  the  high  paths  of  life 
today  would  want  the  Book  of  Life  opened  to  their 
friends  in  this  world,  telling  of  the  acts  done  in  the  body, 
which  they  thought  were  hidden,  but  were  recorded  and 
every  act  known  to  the  spirit  world? 

The  reformation  coming  to  this  world  is  going  to  be 
from  spirit  communication ;  the  two  worlds  blending  as 
one  will  purify  this  world;  and  it  is  stated  in  that  Great 
Book  that  the  second  coming  of  the  Master  would  be 
with  power.  What  is  more  powerful  than  an  angel 
bringing  testimony  in  regard  to  the  guilt  of  the  person 
on  trial?  Can  they  deny  that?  No.  Therefore,  people 
are  afraid  of  spirit  communications,  because  they  know 
they  are  true.  When  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  brought  these  mes- 
sages, could  they  be  denied?  No.  No  one  can  contradict 
the  spirit,  because  the  evidence  is  so  powerful  that  they 
condemn  the  guilty  one  by  his  own  speech. 

So  if  I  made  a  memorial  of  her  work,  greater  books 
would  have  to  be  made,  and  as  her  work  was  of  a  per- 
sonal nature,  relieving  a  personal  sorrow,  helping  the 
doubter  and  giving  fresh  encouragement  to  the  discour- 
aged. It  is  beyond  the  reach  of  memory  to  record  all 
messages  because  each  would  have  to  testify  for  himself 
and  tell  of  the  wonderful  truth  of  the  messages  received. 

Do  you  think  for  one  moment,  now  that  Mrs.  Vander- 
bilt has  left  the  earthly  body,  that  she  is  still  idle,  not  tak- 
ing an  interest  in  the  welfare  of  those  left  behind?  No. 
Her  power  now  is  not  limited  by  matter  material,  as  we 
understand  it,  because  she  is  in  the  spirit  world,  the  am- 
bassador of  an  angel  bringing  communications  to  this  and 
all  those  great  mediums  are  working  in  the  same  line. 
That  is  the  power  of  thought  coming  to  the  world  today. 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  took  the  place  of  the  great  arch  that 


62  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

spans  two  worlds  and  connects  them  together.  Over 
that  arch  came  the  messages  from  the  other  shore  to 
this,  and  many  a  soul  was  made  happy  and  rejoiced  over 
the  information  received  which  was  brought  by  a  mes- 
senger coming  over  that  arch  from  the  other  side. 

Now  all  is  still  because  the  arch  has  disappeared  and 
the  messenger  no  longer  can  travel  over  it.  We  are  left 
on  the  shore  of  time,  wondering  when  the  arch  to  eternity 
will  be  spanned  again. 

It  is  true  there  are  many  arches  still  left,  but  not  the 
great  arch  that  Bright  Eyes  came  over  so  often  with 
messages  of  good  cheer  and  help  to  the  weary  and  the 
down-trodden  and  those  who  were  in  despair. 

May  the  great  loss  be  a  lesson  to  us  that  we  live  more 
in  spirit  than  in  body.  That  the  spiritual  nature  be  the 
prominent  nature  of  our  lives,  and  the  message  left  by 
the  Master  to  His  disciples,  just  before  His  departure  be 
the  message  that  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  has  left  for  you  all: 
"See  to  it  that  ye  love  one  another  and  thus  grow  in 
spirit." 


A  SISTER'S  TRIBUTE 

HARRIET  SCANNELL 
Boston,  Massachusetts 

How  like  a  great  oak  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  stood  the 
blast  of  many  storms,  of  ridicule  and  persecution.  Never 
once  did  she  falter,  but  moved  ever  onward  and  upward, 
climbing  the  stairs  of  her  Gethsemane.  She  voiced  the 
message  of  spiritual  truth  and  unfoldment  to  a  waiting 
world.  Inspired,  she  stood  before  great  throngs,  touched 
with  the  inspiration  from  the  spirit-world,  and  said  to 
humanity :  "We  live  again  after  the  change  called  death. 
We  are  just  as  much  spirit  today  as  we  ever  will  be. 
So-called  death  does  not  put  so  much  as  a  comma  in  the 


TRIBUTES  63 

way."  There  she  stood,  divinely  gifted,  the  chosen  in- 
strument of  the  spirit-world,  giving  health,  love  and  com- 
fort to  others,  forgetting  self,  but  always  working  for 
the  uplift,  the  betterment  of  humanity,  and  the  cause  she 
loved.  She  needs  no  epitaphs.  The  spiritual  truth  she 
taught,  the  great  universal  soul  she  was,  the  help  she 
gave  in  loving  service  to  humanity — these  are  her  mon- 
uments. 


AN  APPRECIATION 

by 
M.  E.  CADWALLADER 

Never  had  pen  of  mine  a  more  unwilling  mission  than 
to  chronicle  the  transition- of  the  one  whose  life  and  labors 
had  been  so  fruitful  of  results.  But  the  blow  has  fallen. 
The  angel  of  death  has  touched  the  eyelids  of  our  friend 
and  co worker.  She  has  gone  to  rest.  The  loss  is  not 
merely  personal  to  us.  It  is  a  calamity  to  the  cause  of 
Spiritualism. 

When  after  a  long  illness  an  operation  was  decided  on 
as  the  only  chance  of  prolonging  her  life,  there  was  every 
hope  given  by  the  attending  physicians  and  surgeons  that 
all  would  be  well.  Hope  beat  high  in  the  hearts  of  her 
loved  ones.  Thousands  prayed  for  her  recovery.  "All 
is  well,"  came  the  message  from  the  physician.  Then  sud- 
denly came  a  collapse,  and  the  brave  heart  that  had 
throbbed  so  long  for  the  sorrows  of  others  in  a  desire  to 
comfort  them  ceased  to  beat,  and  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  en- 
tered eternal  life,  there  to  reap  the  harvest  of  her  efforts 
here  on  earth. 

Words  are  inadequate  to  express  even  a  tithe  of  all  that 
has  been  accomplished  by  this  beloved  and  wonderful 


64  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

woman,  whose  love  for  Spiritualism  was  so  intense  that 
for  her  no  sacrifice  was  too  great  to  make  in  its  service. 

Thirty-six  years  a  medium  in  public  and  private.  What 
a  record !  Life  is  made  up  of  heart  throbs,  not  of  years, 
and  none  but  she  could  tell  us  of  the  heartaches  that 
marked  her  progress. 

The  history  of  Spiritualism  cannot  be  written  without 
the  record  of  her  achievements.  Her  fame  is  world 
wide.  Little  did  those  who  first  heard  her  foresee  that  the 
gift  she  possessed  would  take  her  into  the  highest  courts 
of  the  world.  Yet  the  time  came  when  royalty  bowed  to 
her  powers. 

New  England  is  in  mourning  today  because  of  the  pass- 
ing of  this  brave,  gifted  woman,  for  New  England  seemed 
to  have  a  special  claim  upon  her.  On  every  side  is  heard, 
"No  one  can  fill  her  place."  From  Maine  to  Rhode  Island 
she  was  acknowledged  as  their  leader.  She  was  president 
of  Etna  Camp  in  Maine ;  President  of  New  England  Camp 
Meeting  Association,  Lake  Pleasant;  President  of  Corn- 
pounce  Camp  Association ;  Vice-President  of  the  Connec- 
ticut State  Association  of  Spiritualists,  and  connected  with 
Unity  Camp,  Lee,  Massachusetts,  and  Harwich  Camp. 
She  was  a  born  leader.  This  was  so  fully  acknowledged 
that  the  New  England  leaders  came  to  depend  upon  her  in 
all  emergencies. 

It  was  only  necessary  to  announce  her  name  to  have  any 
auditorium  crowded  by  those  who  were  hungry  for  a  mes- 
sage from  "Bright  Eyes,"  the  spirit  guide  who  was  so 
closely  associated  with  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  as  to  seem  almost 
a  part  of  her  very  being.  Though  New  England  claimed 
her,  she  belongs  to  the  world.  Etna  Camp  was  her  pride. 
Here  she  ministered  to  thousands  upon  thousands.  As 
many  as  ten  thousand  people  have  gathered  at  one  time 
hoping  to  get  a  message. 


TRIBUTES  65 

She  was  fearless  in  her  denunciation  of  wrong.  She 
never  would  tolerate  the  slightest  deviation  from  the  high 
standard  she  set  for  mediumship.  Spiritualism  was  to  her 
a  religion,  her  mediumship  a  sacred  trust  that  she  would 
have  guarded  with  her  life.  Those  in  her  closest  friend- 
ship knew  she  would  have  forfeited  everything  of  earthly 
value  rather  than  break  faith  with  her  angel  guards.  She 
realized  to  the  full  that  "labor,  suffering,  and  reproach"  are 
the  three  stars  that  shine  brightest  in  the  crown  that  adorns 
the  brow  of  fidelity. 

Her  work  was  not  confined  to  New  England.  For  five 
years  she  was  pastor  of  the  First  Spiritual  Church,  Brook- 
lyn. It  was  during  this  time  she  attracted  the  attention  of 
Mr.  Isaac  Funk,  author  of  The  Widow's  Mite.  He  be- 
came interested  in  Spiritualism,  and  tested  her  in  every 
way  possible,  only  to  realize  that  her  mediumship  was  be- 
yond question  or  cavil. 

Philadelphia,  Washington,  New  York,  Brooklyn,  and 
many  other  cities  were  the  scenes  of  her  labors.  She  at- 
tended many  national  conventions  during  the  early  years 
of  her  mediumship,  but  for  many  years  after  that  her  work 
was  public,  except  for  those  few  close  friends  who  were 
privileged  to  receive  messages  from  her. 

In  1906  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  went  to  Russia  by  special  in- 
vitation from  the  imperial  family.  Nicholas,  the  late  Czar, 
made  every  effort  to  have  her  stay  in  Russia,  where  she 
gave  many  sittings  to  the  members  of  his  family,  who  in 
every  way  expressed  their  appreciation ;  and  many  notables 
of  Europe  were  privileged  to  talk  with  her  spirit  guides. 
In  Germany  members  of  the  emperor's  family,  and  many 
of  the  court  officials,  expressed  their  appreciation  of  her 
work.  In  England  the  late  King  Edward  received  her. 
Every  inducement  was  made  to  have  her  remain  in 
Europe,  but  she  preferred  to  work  among  "her  own  peo- 
ple," as  she  called  the  Spiritualists  of  the  United  States. 
She  was  away  about  a  year. 


66  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

In  1907  she  married  E.  W.  Vanderbilt  of  Brooklyn, 
New  York.  This  union  brought  her  a  devoted  affection 
and  surrounded  her  with  love  so  unselfish  and  untiring 
that  her  life  was  made  happier  than  it  ever  had  been. 
When  she  became  weary  with  her  labors  she  returned  to 
her  beautiful  home  in  New  York,  and  there  she  found  al- 
ways a  heaven  of  rest.  Mr.  Vanderbilt  did  everything  in 
his  power  to  make  her  life  complete.  To  him  her  medium- 
ship  was  a  divine  gift.  He  looked  upon  her  as  an  in- 
strument of  the  angel  world.  Her  passing  has  brought 
him  a  profound  sorrow,  but  he  realizes  that  she  can  and 
will  communicate  with  him ;  and  he  can  rejoice  that  she  is 
freed  from  the  pain-racked  body  that  confined  her  soul. 

Her  sufferings  are  over.  If  she  could  speak  to  us  she 
would  say  to  each,  "I  have  only  gone  a  little  way  ahead, 
and  you  will  follow.  In  the  meantime  I  can  and  will  come 
back.  In  your  hours  of  sadness  I  will  be  near  to  bless  and 
cheer  you.  Keep  on  with  my  work.  Do  not  let  the  seeds 
I  have  sown  die,  nor  the  labors  of  my  life  perish  because 
I  am  not  there  to  carry  them  on.  Instead,  as  has  been  said, 
'Let  my  love  be  as  a  thousand  springs  to  inspire  you  to  do 
your  part  in  this  great  work  for  humanity.'  Comfort  the 
sorrowing,  carry  on  the  message.  This  do  I  bid  you." 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  has  gone  from  our  mortal  sight,  but 
she  is  not  dead.  Freed  from  the  limitations  of  her  earth- 
ly body,  she  will  be  a  power  in  the  spirit  world  that  will 
be  felt.  Her  loving  memory  will  live  in  our  hearts.  She 
needs  no  marble  monument.  Her  deeds  live,  and  multi- 
tudes will  rise  up  to  call  her  blessed;  and  so  we  say  not 
farewell,  but  adieu  until  we  meet  again.  You  are  now 
promoted  to  a  higher  grade.  You  have  had  your  diploma 
from  this  primary  school  of  life,  and  have  entered  upon 
the  way  to  eternal  progress. 


TRIBUTES  67 

ELIZABETH  HARLOW  GOETZ 
Baltimore,  Maryland 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  overcame  some  of  the  mightiest  ob- 
stacles any  woman  ever  conquered.  From  an  unknown 
girl  she  grew  to  be  a  woman  of  power  and  international 
fame.  She  was  strong,  but  sympathetic;  firm  but  just; 
sometimes  aggressive,  but  always  FOR  RIGHT. 

In  her  higher  birth  we  have  lost  from  our  platform 
one  of  the  greatest,  if  not  the  greatest,  demonstrator  who 
ever  graced  it.  She  stood  out,  a  lone  star  in  all  its  glory. 

I  personally  feel  this  great  loss.  While  in  our  later 
years  our  lives  have  drifted  apart  in  the  work  we  have 
each  had  to  do,  yet  the  tie  of  friendship  never  has  been 
broken ;  and  we  often  communicated  and  felt  the  warmth 
of  the  past. 

She  has  gone  in  the  height  of  her  womanhood  and 
power.  This  is  the  closing  of  a  most  remarkable  career, 
a  most  perfect  day. 

REV.  WILL  J.  ERWOOD 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania 

No  history  of  Modern  Spiritualism  could  be  complete 
without  a  record  and  a  full  appreciation  of  the  great  work 
of  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt.  So  many  have  stressed  the  great 
loss  sustained  by  Spiritualism  through  her  transition,  that 
I  have  no  desire  to  dwell  upon  that  phase.  The  loss  is 
beyond  computation;  yet  her  work  lives  in  every  human 
being  brought  into  Spiritualism  through  her  ministra- 
tions. Her  work  impressed  and  still  impresses  me — it 
was  of  such  unusual  character  and  force.  During  the 
last  seven  years  of  her  labors  it  was  my  privilege  to  have 
her  on  the  platform  of  the  First  Association  of  Spirit- 
ualists in  Philadelphia.  To  relate  a  few  instances  will 
be  to  add  but  a  faint  tribute  out  of  all  that  might  be  said, 
but  these  instances  are  of  a  nature  that  none  may  gainsay. 


68  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

Out  bf  the  many  examples  of  her  great  mediumship, 
the  following  are  good  specimens:  One  evening  in  the 
early  spring  of  1918,  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  was  holding  one 
of  her  memorable  message  services  in  our  Temple,  when 
I  saw  come  into  the  room  a  young  student  whom  I  knew, 
but  of  whose  family  I  knew  nothing.  With  him  was 
another  young  man,  also  a  stranger  to  me.  They  had 
been  seated  but  a  few  moments  when  Mrs.  Vanderbilt 
paused  a  moment  and  then  said : 

"A  man  comes  to  me  and  says  he  is  looking  for  George. 
He  says  he  was  born  in  the  old  country,  and  that  he  has 
with  him  his  father  and  many  others" — all  of  whom  were 
mentioned  in  detail. 

Continuing  after  a  slight  pause,  she  said:  "Now  he 
walks  down  the  aisle  and  stops  by  you,"  pointing  to  the 
young  man  with  the  student,  "and  he  says  you  are  the 
George  he  wants.  He  tells  me  your  name  is  George 
Taylor;  that  you  were  born  in  Ireland,  and  have  been 
here  but  a  short  time." 

Then  followed  name  after  name  and  fact  after  fact 
that  the  young  man,  white  in  the  face  and  with  a  shake 
in  voice,  acknowledged  to  be  true. 

After  the  service  I  stood  at  the  door  greeting  the  peo- 
ple. This  young  man  came  up  and  I  spoke  to  him  about 
the  message. 

"That  was  quite  a  message  you  received.  Was  it  quite 
clear  to  you  ?"  I  asked. 

"Every  word  of  it  was  true.  I  never  have  been  in  a 
Spiritualist  meeting  before.  That  woman  certainly  has 
got  me  guessing!"  was  the  fervent  response. 

On  another  occasion,  in  November  of  the  same  year, 
Mrs.  Vanderbilt  was  to  be  with  us.  An  hour  or  two 
before  time  to  start  for  the  services  my  telephone  rang. 
I  answered  in  person  and  found  another  student,  a  girl, 
was  calling.  To  her  question  when  Mrs.  Vanderbilt 
would  be  with  us  again,  I  replied  "tonight." 

"Oh,  dear,"  she  said,  "I  was  going  to  New  York  to- 
night." She  paused  a  moment  and  then  said,  "I  believe 
I'll  wait  and  go  to  New  York  tomorrow." 


TRIBUTES  69 

When  the  services  began,  she  was  sitting  in  the  third 
row  from  the  platform. 

This  young  woman  had  an  Irish  name,  so  my  surprise 
can  be  imagined  when  Mrs.  Vanderbilt's  guide  began 
giving  a  number  of  German  names  of  people  who  had 
lived  and  passed  away  in  Germany.  To  my  still  greater 
surprise  she  turned  to  the  young  lady  and  said,  "these 
people  are  for  you." 

I  was  so  sure  she  was  making  a  mistake  that  I  was 
ashamed  to  look  at  the  young  lady,  for  I  felt  I  was  to 
blame  for  her  presence.  When  I  did  finally  gain  courage 
to  look  at  her,  she  was  looking  at  me  with  shining  eyes 
and  nodding  her  head  in  affirmation.  When  the  service 
was  over,  without  waiting  to  go  around  to  the  steps,  she 
reached  out  her  hand  for  me  to  help  her  upon  the  plat- 
form. 

"For  heaven's  sake,"  I  said,  "what  are  you  doing  with 
all  those  German  names?" 

She  laughed  happily  as  she  said,  "You  think  because 
I  have  an  Irish  name  that  they  don't  belong  to  me,  but 
they  were  all  my  mother's  people.  Mother  was  born  in 
Germany." 

When  that  young  woman  left  the  church  that  night, 
she  carried  with  her  the  glad  conviction  that  death's 
stream  had  been  bridged — that  "Life  is  ever  lord  of 
death,  and  love  can  never  lose  its  own." 

These  are  but  two  incidents  out  of  the  many  which 
came  under  my  personal  observation.  They  came  to 
people  who  were  not  Spiritualists,  and  neither  of  whom 
had  ever  been  in  a  Spiritualist  meeting  before.  There 
was  no  way  by  which  the  medium  could  have  gathered 
the  information. 

This  is  a  little  tribute  to  a  great  worker.  A  tribute  I 
am  very  glad  to  give  to  one  who  for  seven  years  never 
failed  to  come  to  us  as  she  agreed ;  and  one  who  never 
failed  to  send  the  honest  skeptic  away  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  her  work,  and  assured  that  the  life  to  which  she 
has  now  gone,  was  very  near.  For  her  great  work  we 
are  profoundly  grateful;  and  so  to  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt, 
dweller  in  two  spheres,  we  say  Godspeed! 


70  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

WINFIELD  SCOTT  WALDRON 
Hallowell,  Maine 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  ever  stood  steadfast  for  what  she 
believed  to  be  right.  She  could  be  stern  and  severe  when 
occasion  called  for  it,  yet  her  whole  life,  as  I  knew  it, 
was  filled  with  kindnesses  that  were  typical  of  her  great 
soul.  One  of  her  ambitions  seemed  to  be  to  start  young 
mediums  on  the  right  pathway  so  that  their  talents  might 
be  developed  to  be  of  use  to  humanity.  She  was  ever 
ready  and  willing  to  assist  every  earnest  endeavor  along 
the  line  of  spiritual  unfoldment,  and  to  recognize  the  gift 
of  mediumship  wherever  she  found  it. 

Many  people  ask,  "What  was  the  secret  of  her  great 
success  ?"  In  answer,  knowing  her  as  I  did.  I  would  say 
it  was  a  life  so  perfectly  lived,  so  void  of  all  selfishness, 
and  her  absolute  fidelity  to  the  cause  that  she  loved. 

In  private  life,  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  was  ever  loyal  to  her 
friends,  and  those  of  us  who  were  fortunate  enough  to 
be  counted  as  such  have  received  a  blessing  that  will  be 
an  inspiration  through  the  years  to  come. 

There  is  not  a  village,  city  or  hamlet  within  the  Pine 
Tree  State  in  which  there  is  not  some  soul  who  thanks 
God  for  her — someone  for  whom  her  mediumship  has 
opened  the  portals  of  Heaven,  someone  to  whom  she  has 
brought  assurance  that  a  beloved  soul  toward  whom  the 
heart  was  yearning  still  lived  and  loved. 

JOSEPH  F.  SNIPES  AND  CHARLOTTE  LOUISE  SNIPES 
New  York  City,  N.  Y. 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt's  earnest  and  distinguished  work  en- 
deared her  to  all  who  value  personal  worth  and  positive 
proofs.  She  was  a  stately  pillar  in  the  temple  of  Truth. 
It  will  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  substitute  another 
of  equal  strength  and  merit.  Her  wonderful  ministry 
and  her  devotion  will  still  continue  under  "natural  law 
in  the  spiritual  world." 


TRIBUTES  71 

J.  F.  STECKENREITER 

President  General  Assembly  of  Spiritualists, 
New  York  State 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  was  a  courageous  and  valiant  fighter 
for  the  truth.  As  a  leader  she  always  held  the  banner  of 
Spiritualism  high  above  the  peepings  and  mutterings  of 
the  crowd.  She  has  performed  a  great  work  on  our  side 
of  life,  and  her  reward  in  the  higher  life  must  be  pro- 
portionately great.  She  has  before  her  now  a  field  of 
even  greater  usefulness  and  opportunity  for  the  exploita- 
tion of  her  wonderful  gifts. 

JENNIE  E.  DILLON 
Hartford,  Connecticut 

In  the  transition  of  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  the  cause  of 
Spiritualism  has  lost  a  wonderful  teacher,  and  her  place 
cannot  readily  be  filled.  She  stood  for  all  that  was 
honest  and  truthful  in  the  work.  The  cause  has  been 
uplifted  by  the  eloquent  lectures  she  was  able  to  give, 
and  innumerable  hearts  have  been  comforted  by  convinc- 
ing messages  through  her  instrumentality. 

To  me  this  is  a  personal  loss,  for  I  have  had  her  loyal 
friendship  many  years.  Her  home  life  and  the  work  done 
there  through  her  mediumship  and  not  known  to  the 
outside  world,  will  always  be  cherished  in  fond  remem- 
brance. God  speed  her  in  her  upward  progress  in  the 
life  she  has  entered  just  over  there. 

CLARA   H.   EDWARDS 
Brooklyn,  New  York 

The  first  time  I  heard  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  lecture  and 
give  messages  from  the  spirit  world  was  sixteen  years 
ago  at  Lake  Pleasant  camp  meeting.  At  that  time  I  knew 
nothing  of  Spiritualism  or  Spiritualists.  Later,  when  she 
was  the  pastor  of  the  First  Spiritualist  Church  in  Brook- 
lyn, one  incident  was  indelibly  stamped  upon  my  mind  at 
that  time. 


72  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

Judge  Abram  H.  Dailey,  president  of  the  church  so- 
ciety, addressed  the  audience  briefly  and  then  introduced 
a  young  Spaniard,  who  related  this  experience: 

A  few  months  earlier,  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  (then  Mrs. 
Pepper),  had  told  him  in  answer  to  a  question,  that  if 
he  would  write  to  a  certain  street  number  in  Madrid,  he 
would  come  into  touch  with  his  father.  He  said  his 
mother,  since  deceased,  had  brought  him  to  America 
while  still  he  was  a  little  child,  and  that  he  had  only  a 
faint  memory  of  his  father.  He  followed  Mrs.  Vander- 
bilt's  suggestion,  wrote  his  father  at  the  address  she  had 
given  him,  and  received  in  reply  a  letter  that  brought 
them  together.  He  was  there  that  day  to  declare  their 
gratitude,  and  to  say  that  never  thenceforth  could  he 
doubt  the  power  of  spirit  loved  ones. 

To  me  personally  the  teachings  of  Spiritualism  as 
given  through  Mrs.  Vanderbilt's  instrumentality  an- 
swered the  longings  of  my  innermost  being,  and  the 
question  of  my  responsibility  for  my  acts  in  daily  life; 
and  made  it  clear  that  my  harvest  in  the  spirit  would 
depend  upon  the  kind  of  seed  I  sowed  while  here  in  the 
body;  that  I  and  none  other  would  be  held  responsible 
for  my  actions  or  deeds,  good  or  evil. 

During  the  last  six  years,  I  had  the  privilege  of  coming 
into  closer  touch  with  Mrs.  Vanderbilt.  From  strangers 
we  became  acquaintances,  then  friends.  This  sacred 
friendship  was  mine  until  her  transition,  is  mine  now, 
and  always  will  be  mine  until  I  may  do  something  to 
forfeit  my  right  to  it. 

When  trials  and  disappointments  fell  to  my  share,  that 
dear,  true,  noble  woman,  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  was  ever 
ready  to  comfort  me,  to  help  me  along  my  way.  Through 
the  shadows  her  sympathy  shone,  a  beacon  light  to  the 
tried  soul  within  my  body;  for  she  was  a  wonderful 
woman,  always  ready  to  assist  those  in  need,  to  stretch 
forth  the  hand  of  encouragement  and  sympathy  to  the 
one  misunderstood  or  maligned. 

Humanity's  friend,  my  beloved  friend  and  counselor, 
I  owe  her  much. 


TRIBUTES  73 

WARREN  Foss  AND  NELLIE  Foss 
Camp  Etna,  Maine 

My  acquaintance  and  friendship  with  Mrs.  Vanderbilt 
began  with  her  first  appearance  at  Camp  Etna  as  a 
speaker.  The  night  of  her  arrival,  I  was  standing  watch- 
ing the  people  coming  down  from  the  hotel.  Mrs.  Van- 
derbilt (then  Mrs.  Pepper)  was  with  Carrie  Twing. 
Leaving  her,  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  walked  directly  up  to  me, 
put  her  arm  in  mine,  and  led  me  down  toward  the  audi- 
torium, saying:  "/  want  you." 

I  never  have  ceased  to  be  glad  I  was  "wanted."  Her 
friendship  has  been  more  to  me  than  words  can  express. 
All  through  the  years  she  has  been  my  inspiration  and 
my  trusted  friend.  The  wonderful  hours  I  have  spent 
with  her  are  indeed  "a  string  of  pearls"  to  me.  Only 
those  who  have  entertained  her  in  their  homes  know  of 
her  wonderful  personality.  I  could  fill  pages  with  the 
marvelous  things  that  transpired  in  our  home  while  she 
and  Bright  Eyes  were  our  honored  guests;  but  if  I 
singled  out  one,  the  rest  would  be  still  more  wonderful. 

Camp  Etna  has  indeed  met  with  a  great  loss  in  the 
passing  of  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  into  the  larger  life;  but  we 
feel — yes,  WE  KNOW — she  has  not  left  us.  She  will  still 
come  and  minister  to  us.  Her  great  soul  still  loves  her 
camp,  and  we  know  that  her  voice  will  be  heard,  giving 
us  wise  counsel  and  cheer.  Her  work  of  comforting 
aching  hearts  is  not  finished.  While  I  sorely  miss  the 
physical  presence  of  the  one  through  whom  my  loved 
spirit  daughter  manifested  so  perfectly,  yet  I  am  glad 
indeed  for  the  greater  opportunities  given  our  teacher 
and  friend.  I  have  not  lost  either.  They  are  both 
together  here  in  the  cottage,  which  was,  and  still  is  Mrs. 
Vanderbilt's  camp  home.  Here  in  Evening  Star  Cottage, 
has  she  established  her  headquarters,  and  from  here  will 
her  influence  go  out  to  the  sorrowing  ones  of  earth. 

Mary,  I  cannot  write  half  I  would,  for  my  heart  is 
too  full.  May  you  still  continue  to  occupy  your  place 
in  this  home  and  from  time  to  time  give  us  your  help 
and  inspiration. 


74  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

GEORGE  A.  FULLER 

0 

Greenwich  Village,  Massachusetts 

From  the  time  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  first  started  out 
as  a  public  worker  I  have  known  her  intimately,  and  it 
has  been  my  privilege  many  times  to  entertain  her  in 
my  home.  Undoubtedly  thousands  of  the  most  stubborn 
skeptics  were  convinced  by  her  work.  She  will  be  missed 
more  than  any  other  one  worker  in  our  ranks,  on  account 
of  her  varied  gifts.  Besides  her  wonderful  psychic 
powers  and  her  gift  of  oratory,  she  was  a  woman  of 
remarkable  executive  ability,  as  evidenced  by  her  work 
as  president  of  Lake  Pleasant  and  Etna  Camps.  She 
made  both  camps,  not  only  a  spiritual  success,  but  a  suc- 
cess from  a  material  standpoint.  In  the  last  years  of 
her  life  her  psychic  work  became  absolutely  marvelous, 
and  her  progress  was  simply  unparalleled  in  the  history 
of  our  movement. 

MARK  A.  BARWISE 
Bangor,  Maine 

Rarely  has  the  world  known  as  wonderful  a  psychic 
as  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt.  For  twenty-five  years  she  held 
a  unique  place  in  American  Spiritualism,  the  greater 
part  of  which  time  she  labored  in  and  seemed  to  specially 
belong  to  her  beloved  New  England.  New  England 
loved  her  beyond  any  medium  of  the  present  generation. 

No  American  Spiritualist  had  a  greater  personal  fol- 
lowing. Thousands  date  the  beginning  of  their  interest 
in  Spiritualism  from  attending  her  public  seances.  The 
rapt  attention  and  marked  devotion  in  the  upturned  faces 
during  one  of  Mrs.  Vanderbilt's  services  when  Bright 
Eyes  was  in  control,  never  will  be  forgotten  by  those 
who  used  to  occupy  the  platform  with  her. 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  possessed  a  strong,  vigorous  and  alert 
personality.  She  was  powerful  of  intellect,  intense  in 
emotion,  strong  in  her  devotion  to  friends  and  equally 


TRIBUTES  75 

strong  in  her  denunciation  of  enemies.  She  hated  all 
artificiality,  whether  personal  or  institutional.  She  de- 
tested hyprocrisy,  cant  and  deceit.  She  had  that  rare 
gift  of  retaining  as  friends  those  with  whom  she  violently 
disagreed. 

Beneath  an  often  bluff  exterior,  there  was  always  the 
kindly  heart.  Her  sympathies  were  always  responsive 
to  sorrow  and  trouble.  Indeed,  if  any  one  motive  dom- 
inated all  the  rest  in  keeping  her  constantly  at  her  work, 
it  sprang  from  a  knowledge  of  the  solace  and  comfort 
she  and  her  controls  brought  to  the  heart-broken  thou- 
sands who  came  to  her  meetings  for  such  consolation  as 
can  come  only  from  recognizing  beyond  a  doubt  that 
messages  bearing  internal  proof  of  their  authenticity 
are  received  from  the  loved  ones  just  beyond  the  veil. 

MRS.  MARY  T.  LONGLEY 
Washington,  D.  C. 

The  passing  of  this  rare  medium  and  generous  woman, 
Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  has  left  a  deplorable  and  irremedi- 
able vacancy  in  the  ranks  of  mediumship  and  of  active, 
convincing  Spiritualism.  I  have  no  doubt  the  spirit  in- 
telligences who  have  the  happiness  and  progress  of  hu- 
manity at  heart  will  succeed  in  developing  and  bringing 
to  light  other  wonderful  mediums  like  unto  this  great  one 
who  has  gone ;  but  even  so,  the  world  will  sorely  miss  her, 
for  she  stood  so  many  years  in  the  front  ranks  of  me- 
diumship, a  leader  and  a  teacher,  preaching  eloquently 
the  gospel  of  Spiritualism  and  demonstrating  with  power 
and  conviction  the  truths  of  immortality  and  of  spirit 
communication.  No  need  for  me  to  eulogize  her  name 
or  point  to  her  multiplied  good  works.  Her  record  is 
imprinted  on  the  hearts  of  many  thousands  of  grateful 
individuals  who,  through  her  ministrations,  have  received 
the  tidings  that  their  beloved  are  with  them  from  beyond 
the  grave;  messages  that  have  healed  the  broken-hearted 
and  brought  joy  and  light  to  those  who  had  been  in  dark- 
ness and  despair. 


76  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  has  ascended  to  the  spheres  of  im- 
mortality, but  we  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  her  work 
for  humanity  is  ended.  So  thoroughly  was  she  imbued 
with  the  idea  of  spiritual  work  and  the  consciousness  that 
her  mission  was  to  heal  the  wounded  heart,  comfort  the 
mourner  and  instruct  the  ignorant,  that  she  must  even 
now  in  her  fined  body  and  higher  state  still  feel  the  need 
and  be  impressed  with  the  consciousness  that  her  scene 
of  action  and  base  of  ministry  have  simply  been  trans- 
ferred to  another  and  a  brighter  clime. 

She  has  gone  into  the  great  sunlight  of  the  hereafter, 
following  many  years  of  brilliant  public  work  as  a  speak- 
er, medium  and  all-around  worker  for  the  cause  of 
Spiritualism  and  for  humanity.  The  splendor  of  her 
ministrations  and  the  wonders  of  her  spiritual  and  in- 
tellectual unfoldment  have  accomplished  much.  Praise 
and  honor  belong  to  such  as  she. 

DR.  J.  M.  PEEBLES 
Los  Angeles,  California 

Mrs.  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  has  departed  to  the  immor- 
tal courts  of  heaven.  Who  can  take  the  place  of  this 
brilliant  messenger,  this  self-poised  and  heaven-ordained 
soul,  to  demonstrate  the  future  life?  Who  next  will  be 
taken  from  earth  to  make  the  heavens  more  radiant? 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  never  required  praise  for  her  won- 
derful work.  Praise  is  for  children,  not  for  grandly 
illumined  souls.  She  was,  and  is,  highly  appreciated. 
She  is  now  enjoying  the  harvest  of  her  sowing  in  the 
realms  of  immortality, 

Telegram  from  GEORGE  B.  WARNE 
President  N.  S.  A.,  to  E.  W.  Vanderbilt 

April  28,  1919. 

Our  cause  has  suffered  an  irreparable  loss  in  Mrs.  Van- 
derbilt's  transition.  Accept  for  yourself  and  her  sister 
profoundest  sympathy  from  fellow  workers  of  the 
N.  S.  A.,  together  with  that  of  Mrs.  Warne  and  myself. 


TRIBUTES  77 

M.  J.  BUTLER 
Boston,  Massachusetts 

Frank,  candid,  devotedly  sincere,  our  noble  friend  and 
co-worker,  Mary  Vanderbilt,  while  on  earth  preached  and 
demonstrated  the  truth  of  our  faith — Spiritualism.  Her 
power  to  visualize  things  spiritual,  to  summon  for  us 
voices  and  spirits  of  the  departed,  brought  untold  hun- 
dreds into  the  fold  of  this  faith.  Her  spirit  has  yielded 
up  this  life  for  a  larger  field  of  activity. 

After  an  earth  life  filled  with  perfect  peace  toward  all, 
a  life  of  generous  benevolence  to  all,  a  life  of  universal 
good,  a  life  that  enriched  all  within  its  radiance — this 
noble  soul  has  advanced  to  a  field  of  larger  activity. 

D.  A.  LYMAN 

Columbia,  Connecticut 
President  Connecticut  State  Association  of  Spiritualists 

Greatness  may  attach  to  a  person  from  various  causes, 
but  true  greatness,  it  seems  to  me,  must  come  from  per- 
forming great  service  to  humanity ;  and  there  is  no  great- 
er service  than  answering  the  greatest  of  all  questions: 
What  of  the  life  beyond  the  change  called  death? 

It  was  the  life  work  of  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  to  answer  this 
question.  The  joy  that  replaced  tears  and  the  certainty 
that  took  the  place  of  uncertainty  in  the  hearts  of  the 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  mourning  humanity,  testify 
that  it  was  a  work  well  done. 

She  early  came  to  abhor  the  petty  things  that  too  many 
mediums  have  encouraged  which  have  little  or  no  relation 
to  the  real  work  of  the  true  medium.  She  detested  for- 
tune-telling, or  catering  to  seekers  for  information  re- 
garding frivolous  personal  affairs.  It  was  her  greatest 
joy  to  comfort  the  sorrowing  and  convince  the  doubting. 
Thus  she  came  to  occupy  the  dual  character  of  eloquent 


78  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

preacher  and  convincing  message  bearer,  her  messages 
being  given  as  freely  and  accurately  to  an  audience  of 
ten  thousand  strangers  as  to  a  company  of  friends  in  the 
home  circle.  She  never  assailed  the  churches,  either 
Catholic  or  Protestant.  This  attitude  tended  to  attract 
members  of  churches  to  her  meetings,  and  in  thousands 
of  instances  she  convinced  them  of  the  truths  she  was 
teaching.  She  made  her  meetings  religious  services  really, 
and  people  went  from  them  filled  with  a  desire  to  do 
better  work  for  humanity. 

The  stars  in  her  "crown  of  rejoicing"  on  the  other  side 
can  never  be  numbered. 


S.  M.  GILE 

Etna,  Maine 

Ex-Director  of  Camp  Etna  (Maine}  Association 

The  work  of  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  at  Camp  Etna  has 
left  an  indelible  impression  upon  the  people,  and  the 
furrows  of  truth  that  she  has  ploughed,  deep  and  wide, 
will  cause  a  growth  unequaled  by  any  other  worker  whom 
the  angels  have  sent  among  us.  In  my  long  life  of 
eighty-six  years  I  have  listened  to  many  message  bearers, 
and  can  truthfully  say  I  have  never  yet  heard  her  equal 
in  voicing  communications  from  the  world  of  souls.  This 
remarkable  woman  and  myself  often  clashed  with  differ- 
ences of  opinion,  both  being  naturally  of  a  very  positive 
nature;  yet,  while  I  remain,  I  would  nurture  carefully 
the  seeds  she  has  sown  at  Camp  Etna,  that  they  may  grow 
and  bloom  in  beauty  as  she  had  planned  and  longed  for 
them  to  do. 

This  great  soul  has  been  promoted — emancipated — re- 
leased; and  while  I  would  not  hold  her  to  earthly  condi- 
tions, I  do  sincerely  hope  the  great  All-Father  will  allow 
her  still  to  minister  unto  the  people  of  Camp  Etna  for  a 
season  longer,  until  we  shall  have  grown  capable  of  carry- 
ing on  the  great  work  she  was  doing  here,  loyally  and 
well. 


TRIBUTES  79 

FRANK  A.  BISHOP 
Bangor,  Maine 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt's  success  at  Camp  Etna  was  phenom- 
enal. Her  marvelous  psychic  powers  attracted  people 
from  all  parts  of  the  state  and  beyond.  Year  after  year 
her  development  was  marked,  and  audiences  numbering 
thousands  have  sat  spellbound,  with  eager,  upturned  faces 
on  which  their  soul  hunger  was  plainly  depicted,  pleased, 
beyond  their  power  to  express,  by  the  comforting  words 
which  fell  from  her  inspired  lips. 

Her  long  service  at  this  camp  covered  seventeen  years. 
During  that  time  she  endeared  herself  to  a  host  of  staunch 
friends,  who  not  only  admired  her  for  her  mediumistic 
gifts,  but  loved  her  for  the  zeal  and  devotion  she  dis- 
played, and  for  her  consideration  for  and  helpfulness 
toward  other  mediums. 

MRS.  H.  C.  BERRY 
Boston,  Massachusetts 

No  one  ever  has  come  into  the  spiritual  field  of  labor 
whose  work  has  been  recognized  so  widely  as  has  that 
of  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt.  I  shall  always  remember  her  as 
one  of  the  best  mediums  I  ever  have  known. 

No  one  was  more  tender  in  feeling  for  those  who  had 
not  reached  the  heights  she  had.  Truly  she  will  be  re- 
membered by  what  she  has  done,  and  hundreds  all  over 
the  land  will  look  up  and  call  her  blessed. 

DR.  CLARENCE  B.  CAPRON 
Norwich,  Connecticut 

It  gives  me  unbounded  pleasure  to  express  to  the  world 
through  this  memorial  my  gratitude  for  the  knowledge 
I  have  received  by  being  in  her  company  and  listening 
to  the  words  of  wisdom  and  comfort  that  fell  from  the 
lips  of  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt. 


80  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

DR.  WILLIAM  CRITCHLEY 
Lake  Pleasant,  Mass. 

The  world  never  has  had  a  better  psychic  than  Mary 
Pepper  Vanderbilt.  She  and  her  guides  have  converted 
more  people  to  that  true  religion — Spiritualism,  than  all 
the  other  psychics  in  this  country. 

I  have  known  our  dear  Mary  nearly  forty  years  and 
have  been  in  close  touch  with  her  as  one  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  Lake  Pleasant  Camp  Meeting  Association. 
As  her  nearest  neighbor  for  some  years  at  our  camp,  I 
can  truly  say  I  never  saw  her  equal  as  a  teacher  of  her 
religion.  She  was  unselfish  in  all  things,  loyal  to  her 
guides,  considerate  toward  all  religious  denominations, 
and  always  doing  kindly  or  charitable  deeds  for  poor 
mortals  who  needed  assistance. 

My  first  experience  with  her  was  in  Worcester,  Mass. 

I  was  visiting  my  daughter  there.  On  Sunday  noon  I 
had  an  impression  that  I  should  apply  for  a  pension  on 
account  of  wounds  received  in  1863.  I  thought  I  would 
better  write  and  send  my  statement  to  the  Commissioner 
of  Pensions  at  Washington. 

I  did  not  tell  anyone.  I  intended  to  mail  the  letter  my- 
self. At  half -past  two  that  afternoon  I  started  for  the 
post  office.  At  the  corner  of  Pearl  Street  I  saw  a  notice 
of  a  lecture  by  May  S.  Pepper  at  that  hour.  It  was 
two-forty-five  when  I  reached  the  hall,  which  I  found  was 
crowded  to  the  doors. 

After  the  lecture,  which  was  fine,  Mrs.  Pepper  gave 
messages.  The  first  of  these  was  for  me: 

"Someone  calls  for  Doctor  Critchley." 

I  held  up  my  hand.  Somebody  said :  "Someone  away 
back  behind  the  post."  Then  said  Mrs.  Pepper:  "Speak 
to  me." 

I  told  her  I  was  Doctor  Critchley.    The  president  said : 

"You  are  the  one,"  and  added,  "There  is  a  beautiful 
spirit  here  who  says  she  is  your  wife.  She  spells  the 
name  'Louisette.' " 

Said  I :   "That  is  the  name."    Then  she  said : 


TRIBUTES  81 

"She  has  brought  Charles  W.  Gardner,  and  he  says: 
'I  was  with  you  at  noon  and  influenced  you  to  write  for 
your  pension.  You  have  the  letter  in  your  pocket  now.'  " 

I  did  have  it  there,  and  produced  it.  I  had  forgotten 
to  mail  it.  Then  she  said  Charles  Gardner  wished  to  tell 
me  I  would  receive  my  pension  within  six  months.  I  did. 

I  could  cite  many  cases  as  wonderful  as  my  own,  but 
I  will  leave  that  to  more  able  writers.  Neither  tongue 
nor  pen  can  give  to  her  and  her  guides  the  thanks  they 
so  richly  earned.  * 

That  she  was  persecuted  by  skeptics  and  by  those  so 
blind  that  they  would  not  see,  is  well  known  to  all;  yet 
she  kept  right  on  with  her  fight  for  the  truth,  until  the 
end. 


MRS.  MATTIE  B.  COY 
Guilford,  Maine 

May  I  not  be  allowed  to  render  my  simple  testimony 
concerning  the  sweetness  and  beauty  of  the  life  of  Mary 
S.  Vanderbilt  among  us  here  on  earth?  When  I  first 
began  to  listen  to  that  great  woman,  and  felt  that  I  did 
not  know  her  at  all,  but  might  only  have  the  privilege 
of  listening  to  her  inspired  words,  she  came  one  season 
to  the  camp.  Walking  about  the  grounds  with  some  of 
her  friends,  she  chanced  to  pass  me  by.  Stopping,  she 
bent  her  head  and  kissed  my  cheek,  and  with  a  cheering 
word  and  pleasant  smile  passed  on. 

That  kindly  incident  never  has  faded  from  my  memory. 
I  often  wondered  how  it  was  that  this  great  woman,  so 
gifted,  so  admired  by  all,  should  stop  to  notice  me  in  my 
humble  surroundings;  but  the  years  that  I  have  passed 
as  a  listener  to  her  unselfish  and  beautiful  ministrations 
have  taught  me  of  the  nobility  of  her  soul. 

I  am  glad  that  I  met  her  along  the  pathway  of  earthly 
li  f e ;  I  am  glad  that  she  belonged  to  us  here  at  Camp 
Etna;  glad  that  we  may  yet  feel  and  know  her  love  and 
interest  is  still  with  us  who  are  Camp  Etna's  members. 


82  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

MRS.  MARIE  E.  CHASE 
Lynn,  Massachusetts 

In  the  Fall  of  1907,  while  Mr.  Chase  was  president  of 
the  Lynn  Spiritualist  Association,  it  became  my  good  for- 
tune to  meet  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt.  During  the  past 
years  we  have  visited  each  other,  and  what  was  at  first 
an  acquaintance  ripened  into  eternal  love.  Mrs.  Vander- 
bilt was  kind,  just,  generous  and  loyal;  a  truly  big- 
hearted  woman. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  K.  had  lost  a  beautiful  daughter,  seven- 
teen or  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  were  heartbroken  in 
consequence  of  the  loss.  While  visiting  in  Lynn,  they 
came  to  Cadet  Hall,  where  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  was  speak- 
ing. Mrs.  Vanderbilt  told  them  of  their  daughter's  death, 
calling  her  name,  age  and  the  manner  of  her  passing. 
She  also  told  Mr.  K.  of  his  going  into  the  garden  just 
before  the  funeral  and  picking  a  rose,  then  going  to  the 
casket  and  touching  his  daughter's  cheek  with  it,  saying : 
"Vesta,  if  there  is  anything  in  Spiritualism,  and  you  come 
back  to  me,  you  will  tell  me  of  this."  To  Mr.  K.  the 
message  was  proof  positive  of  the  life  beyond. 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  at  another  time  told  of  a  spirit  she 
saw  of  a  young  man,  who  had  come  to  help  his  sister, 
calling  her  by  name  and  saying  she  was  in  great  trouble. 
It  seems  the  young  woman  had  been  deceived  by  a  sailor 
and  had  a  baby  five  months  old. 

Every  time  he  came  into  port  he  would  promise  to 
marry  her,  but  always  sailed  without  doing  so.  Mrs. 
Vanderbilt  told  her  the  sailer  was  in  Boston  and  was  to 
sail  the  next  day,  and  that  she  must  go  to  a  certain  pier 
the  following  morning  if  she  wanted  to  catch  him. 

After  the  meeting  a  lawyer  who  had  heard  the  wonder- 
ful message  came  to  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  and  volunteered 
his  services  to  assist  the  young  woman.  Through  that 
wonderful  message  the  sailor  was  found,  and  the  young 
woman  was  married  by  special  license  before  he  left  port 
the  following  morning. 

These  are  only  two  of  the  many  wonderful  and  helpful 
messages  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  has  given  to  the  world. 


TRIBUTES  83 

MRS.  CHARLOTTE  LOUISE  SNIPES 
New  York  City,  N.  Y. 

On  August  19,  1917,  at  Lake  Pleasant,  Massachusetts, 
I  attended  a  public  seance  given  by  Mrs.  Vanderbilt. 
After  a  long  session,  attended  by  numerous  acknowledged 
tests,  when  I  approached  the  table  to  recover  a  folded 
paper,  submitted  for  psychometrization,  Mrs.  Vanderbilt 
suddenly  turned  to  me  and  said: 

"Is  your  father  in  spirit  life,  and  have  you  a  brother 
John  in  earth  life?" 

"Yes,"  I  answered. 

"Well,  your  father  says  he  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
course  of  certain  parties  in  the  recent  settlement  of  his 
affairs;  that  he  was  with  you  when  his  two  partners 
wanted  your  mother  to  take  notes  in  adjustment.  He  is 
very  glad  you  refused,  because  if  she  had  accepted  their 
notes,  she  would  never  have  received  the  partnership 
money.  He  also  says  he  is  greatly  pleased  with  your 
management  of  his  estate,  with  the  aid  of  your  husband 
and  his  lawyers;  and  that  he  came  to  you  at  Allenhurst 
immediately  after  his  departure." 

Again,  on  August  21,  1918,  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  publicly 
announced  that  a  spirit  friend  was  attending  me,  whose 
name  sounded  something  like  Mungins,  and  that  my 
father  was  with  him  very  often,  as  in  life. 

"Was  this  man  a  preacher?"  she  asked.  "I  think  so, 
because  he  tells  me  your  father  knelt  at  his  footstool,  and 
they  are  the  same  friends  still.  Your  father  says  he  has 
met  Aunt  Hannah  and  Aunt  Margaret,  and  he  was  on 
hand  to  meet  Uncle  Charlie  when  he  came  over." 

In  substantiation  of  this  wonderfully  accurate  citation 
of  names  and  facts  about  which  neither  the  medium  nor 
anyone  else  on  the  grounds  knew  anything  whatsoever,  I 
will  state  that  my  father  passed  away  May  17,  1917,  only 
three  months  previous  to  my  visit  to  Lake  Pleasant ;  that 
I  have  a  brother  named  John  in  earth  life;  that  my  father 
had  two  partners  with  him,  who  proved  unscrupulous 
and  wanted  to  make  a  settlement  on  unfair  terms,  by 


84  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

note,  but  my  husband  and  his  counsel  and  myself  de- 
manded and  received  cash  payment;  that  father  did  pre- 
sent himself  to  us  at  Allenhurst,  New  Jersey,  six  hours 
before  we  heard  that  he  was  found  dead  in  his  bed  in 
New  York ;  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mingins  was  for  years  my 
father's  pastor  and  friend;  that  his  two  sisters  in  spirit 
were  named  Hannah  and  Margaret;  and  that  Uncle 
Charlie,  father's  brother,  was  translated  six  months  later 
than  himself. 

All  of  which  establishes  the  clear  vision  and  hearing  of 
this  modern  seer,  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt. 

MRS.  FANNIE  J.  LAMONT 
,,       New  York  City,  N.  Y. 

I  have  had  so  many  wonderful  messages  from  Mrs. 
Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  that  I  never  could  tell  one-half  of 
them. 

Once  a  dishonest  man  left  the  home,  and  my  mother 
missed  her  diamond  rings.  She  was  sure  he  had  taken 
them,  but  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  insisted  they  were  in  the  bed- 
room, in  a  box.  She  described  the  room  and  everything 
in  it;  and  the  rings  were  found  in  a  little  drinking  cup 
in  the  bureau  drawer. 

Another  time  I  took  a  lady  and  her  little  daughter  to 
her,  and  the  moment  we  entered  her  presence  she  said : 
"Ed,  the  father  is  calling  for  the  child,"  and  gave  a  very 
odd  name,  and  told  the  cause  of  the  father's  death. 

Once  again  while  I  was  at  the  New  England  camp  she 
told  us  to  stop  in  Connecticut  on  the  way  home.  She 
gave  me  the  name  of  my  aunt,  who  told  me  my  uncle 
would  not  be  there  very  long,  and  to  go  and  see  him  at 
once,  which  I  did.  The  next  year  when  I  passed  that 
way,  he  had  gone  home  to  his  loved  ones. 

Again,  she  told  me  to  hurry  home;  that  I  was  needed 
there,  which  was  very  true. 

I  was  given  the  names  of  many  of  my  near  and  dear 
ones,  describing  them,  so  that  I  was  positive  they  were 
there.  I  never  can  be  thankful  enough  for  all  the  help 
she  gave  to  me. 


TRIBUTES  85 

MRS.  NELLIE  E.  ABBOTT 
Lawrence,  Mass. 

In  1900  I  was  invited  by  friends  to  go  to  Haverhill, 
Massachusetts,  to  hear  a  speaker  they  said  far  excelled 
the  average  interpreter  of  Spiritualism. 

Upon  arriving  there  I  was  attracted  to  an  unassuming 
lady,  and  was  very  much  surprised  to  learn  she  was  none 
other  than  the  speaker  of  the  day,  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Pepper. 
It  certainly  seemed  that  she  was  not  a  stranger  to  any- 
one in  the  spirit  world,  for  name  after  name  fell  from 
her  lips  through  the  agency  of  her  controlling  spirit, 
Little  Bright  Eyes.  One  after  another  had  to  admit  that 
what  was  given  was  absolutely  true,  because  proofs  came 
with  telling  effect.  Whenever  possible,  every  member  of 
my  family  made  a  special  effort  to  hear  this  extraordi- 
narily gifted  psychic. 

Times  without  number  did  she  refute  the  line :  "They 
have  gone  to  that  'bourne  from  which  no  traveler  re- 
turns.' " 

A  short  time  after  meeting  Mrs.  Pepper,  I  began  to 
ask  a  few  friends  to  my  home  to  listen  to  the  one  who 
had  begun  to  mean  so  much  to  me,  and  their  interest  was 
so  great  that  I  engaged  a  larger  place.  When  the  time 
arrived  for  her  coming  there  was  not  room  for  those 
who  had  become  interested  and  had  brought  others.  It 
seemed  to  me  the  heavens  must  have  opened,  for  like 
lightning  did  those  messages  come,  not  one  but  what  was 
recognized.  After  that,  for  nearly  ten  years,  she  came 
here  annually,  leaving  a  trail  of  light  behind  her. 

Once  a  Unitarian  clergyman  to  whom  she  reached  out, 
telling  of  his  profession  and  speaking  of  those  near  and 
dear  to  him,  afterward  came  to  me  and  said :  "I  succumb. 
I  can  say  nothing  but  praise  for  the  one  who  has  been 
chosen  to  bring  me  the  first  words  of  comfort  I  have 
received  from  my  loved  ones." 

On  one  occasion,  shortly  after  one  of  Mrs.  Vanderbilt's 
visits  to  our  city,  I  met  Mrs.  Channing  and  spoke  of  the 
work  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  and  Bright  Eyes  had  done  in 


86  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

Lawrence.  Mrs.  Channing  exclaimed:  "Mrs.  Vancler- 
bilt  made  me  the  happiest  of  women  when  Bright  Eyes 
gave  me  a  message  from  our  boy,  saying,  'This  spirit  is 
no  stranger  to  me.  I  knew  him  in  earth  life.  He  used 
to  divide  his  lunches  with  me  when  I  was  there.'  Then 
I  remembered  the  little  Indian  girl  Wallie  had  often 
spoken  to  me  about." 

I  have  many  times  seen  her  turn  away  from  people  of 
affluence  to  speak  to  others  to  whom  earthly  comforts 
seemed  to  have  been  denied.  One  time  when  she  was 
besieged  by  many  for  private  interviews,  a  lady  said  to 
her  in  scornful  tones:  "Will  you  tell  me  why  you  give 
your  time  to  that  old  man,  ragged  and  torn  and  almost 
beggarly,  instead  of  to  one  who  can  compensate  you  lib- 
erally?" Mrs.  Vanderbilt  turned  to  the  woman  and  said: 
"Do  you  know  that  in  the  sight  of  God  you  cannot  be 
compensated  by  money  for  giving  comfort?  That  old 
man,  ragged  and  torn  as  he  was,  without  money,  had  a 
soul  that  cried  out  for  help,  and  out  in  that  other  life  to 
which  he  will  go  before  long,  this  morning  will  be  to  him 
a  revelation — and  you  with  money  cannot  buy  what  that 
royal  soul  will  receive.  I  would  rather  give  to  him  in 
his  need  than  to  thousands  who  think  only  of  their  money 
and  what  it  can  buy." 

I  have  seen  hundreds  weep  with  joy  upon  hearing  a 
message  that  had  been  given  to  some  weary  heart. 


JOSEPHINE  HASLAM 
Lake  Pleasant,  Massachusetts 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  filled  a  unique  place  in  Modern 
Spiritualism  as  a  psychic  and  message  bearer.  She  made 
more  converts  to  the  fact  of  spirit  return  than  anyone 
else  I  ever  knew.  Combined  with  her  sympathetic  and 
generous  nature,  she  left  a  vivid  memory  as  a  teacher. 
She  carried  the  torch  of  truth  valiantly,  and  blazed  the 
trail  for  all  who  followed  her. 


TRIBUTES  87 

GEORGE  BENNETT 
Abbott,  Maine 

We  Spiritualists  of  Maine  feel  that  we  have  met  with 
a  personal  loss  in  the  passing  of  our  friend  and  sister, 
Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  the  loss  of  one  who  was  ever  ready 
to  give  comforting  messages  from  the  angel  loved  ones 
to  the  lonely  and  sorrowing  of  earth.  She  walked  among 
us  as  an  angel  of  light,  never  passing  by  the  poor,  the 
humble,  the  old  and  needy.  My  experiences  with  her 
were  most  comforting,  most  beautiful,  helping  me  to  live 
and  go  on  after  my  beloved  wife  passed  to  spirit,  leaving 
me  alone  with  the  weight  of  years  upon  me. 

In  1916,  when  I  closed  the  door  of  our  little  home  to 
go  to  Etna,  being  all  alone,  I  said  aloud :  "I  am  going  to 
Etna  today,  Rose,  to  see  if  I  can  hear  from  you." 

I  was  seated  in  the  meeting  and  when  Mrs.  Vanderbilt 
was  giving  her  messages,  she  said :  "Rose  Bennett  is  here 
and  says :  "I  came  all  the  way  down  here  with  you  today, 
George,  and  I  was  with  you  when  you  said  you  were 
going  to  Etna  to  see  if  you  could  hear  from  me." 

Now,  I  had  not  spoken  to  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  after  ar- 
riving at  the  camp,  and  she  did  not  know  whether  I  had 
come  that  day  or  some  other,  for  the  camp  had  been  in 
session  five  days. 

In  1917,  through  her  generous  kindness,  she  gave  me 
a  reading.  My  wife,  Rose,  came  and  said:  "I  am  with 
you  much  of  the  time,  George,  in  our  pleasant  little  home. 
I  prefer  to  sit  by  our  own  fireside  in  the  chair,  for  which 
I  made  the  cushion  and  where  the  bottom  rolls  under." 

This  was  a  very  good  description  of  the  chair  in  which 
she  used  to  sit. 

At  another  time,  while  I  was  having  a  reading  with 
Mrs.  Vanderbilt,  I  asked:  "Cannot  you  (Rose)  send 
just  a  word  to  our  children?" 

She  said :  "Tell  Charles  and  Celia  that  I  am  with  them 
much." 

I  said:  "That  is  not  correct."  She  said:  "Why,  yes 
it  is,  Celia  May."  Which  was  correct,  though  we  always 
called  her  May. 


88  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

At  one  time  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  said  to  me :  "Your  sister, 
Edna  Lizzie  Hayden;  your  wife,  Rose,  and  her  mother 
are  here." 

I  said:  "How  does  Rose's  mother  feel  toward  me 
now?"  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  quickly  answered: 

"She  feels  all  right.  She  doesn't  care  anything  about 
the  old  lamp  now." 

There  had  been  in  the  past  quite  a  bit  of  hard  feeling 
between  the  mother  and  myself  about  an  old  lamp  that 
had  been  given  to  Rose  by  her  mother  fifty  years  ago, 
but  outsiders  knew  nothing  about  it,  and  to  me  the  evi- 
dence was  very  conclusive. 

My  eyesight  is  now  growing  dim,  my  feet  are  almost 
touching  the  shores  where  my  loved  ones  dwell,  but  I 
bless  the  name  of  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  for  her  great  kind- 
ness to  me,  and  for  her  wonderful  work  in  the  field  of 
Spiritualism.  She  has  truly  been  a  benefactor.  Peace 
to  her  arisen  spirit! 


MRS.  GEORGIA  A.  FIELD 
Portland,  Maine 

In  the  passing  out  of  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  the  world 
of  liberal  and  advanced  thought  has  met  with  an  irre- 
parable loss.  She  endeared  herself  to  her  Etna  friends 
through  many  acts  of  kindness,  and  loving  messages  from 
the  angel  world.  I  myself  received  a  very  comforting 
message  through  her  mediumship,  from  my  arisen  daugh- 
ter. At  that  time  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  knew  nothing  about 
my  family. 

With  loving  thoughts  to  her  departed  spirit  I  remain, 
as  ever,  one  of  her  ardent  admirers.  This  humble  tribute 
is  from  one  of  the  pioneer  campers  of  Etna,  a  member 
of  the  Association,  and  long  a  listener  to  the  great  work 
of  Mrs.  Vanderbilt. 


TRIBUTES  89 

MRS.  ANNIE  E.  WOODMAN 
Norwich,  Connecticut 

Words  cannot  express  my  feeling  of  respect  and  de- 
votion to  this  world-wide  instructor  and  adviser,  Mary 
S.  Vanderbilt.  I  have  entertained  her  in  my  home  and 
find  there  is  a  vacant  place  caused  by  her  transition;  yet 
I  feel  her  spiritual  presence  very  often.  These  words  I 
assign  to  her  memory,  in  the  most  loving  thought  and 
remembrance. 

MRS.  ADELAIDE  A.  CLARK  AND  MR.  ALBERT  N.  CLARK 
East  Nassau,  New  York 

In  the  summer  of  1902,  after  the  passing  of  my  brother 
in  March  of  that  year,  I  went  to  hear  Mrs.  Vanderbilt 
in  the  hope  of  getting  a  word  from  him.  I  waited  anx- 
iously throughout  the  meeting,  but  no  message  came  for 
me.  As  I  was  leaving  the  Temple,  very  sad,  she  looked 
at  me  and  asked :  "Who  is  Austin  ?"  At  once  I  replied : 
"My  brother,  from  whom  I  wish  to  hear." 

She  gave  me  a  message,  very  comforting  as  well  as 
convincing  of  spirit  return.  To  my  husband  she  has 
given  some  wonderful  messages,  with  names  of  his  people 
— quite  difficult  to  spell  or  pronounce.  Her  power  as  a 
psychic  was  beyond  all  others. 

SWAMI  ABBEDANANDA 

Lecturing  from  the  same  platform  with  Mrs.  Vander- 
bilt, I  came  in  personal  touch  with  her  real  self,  and 
found  that  she  was  one  of  those  rare  souls  who  come 
to  help  mankind  on  the  path  of  spiritual  enlightment. 
Her  mission  was  great  and  she  was  extremely  broad- 
minded.  I  was  deeply  impressed  with  her  test  demon- 
strations of  spirit  communications.  She  aroused  the 
interest  of  the  people  to  inquire  into  the  realm  after  so- 
called  death,  and  fulfilled  her  mission  in  a  straightfor- 
ward and  dignified  manner. 


90  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

HENRI  SENTNER 
Boston,  Massachusetts 

Modern  Spiritualism  has  become  a  conscious  factor  in 
the  lives  of  men,  but  not  without  the  untiring  efforts  of 
those  pioneer  workers  who  demonstrated  the  fact  that 
beyond  the  grave  there  looms  a  greater  life.  Living  a 
life  devoted  to  that  sublime  truth,  Mary  Pepper  Vander- 
bilt  gave  herself  to  the  world  of  spirit,  that  there  might 
be  proclaimed  to  earth  anew  the  glad  tidings  of  great  joy. 

Times  without  number  I  have  seen  her  stand  before 
audiences  where  many  came  to  laugh  but  departed  with  a 
sense  of  something  new  and  wonderful.  I  have  seen 
eyes  filled  with  tears  of  joy,  and  the  soul  of  the  individual 
lighted  up  as  through  her  inspired  lips  came  a  message 
from  father,  mother,  or  some  other  loved  one — a  message 
delivered  in  the  clear,  convincing  manner  that  distin- 
guished her. 

One  can  speak  with  authority  only  by  reason  of  per- 
sonal experience.  Therefore,  I  feel  that  I  may  add  my 
feeble  tribute  to  the  most  wonderful  medium  and  most 
glorious  woman  I  ever  met.  She  was  a  friend,  and  that 
means  much  in  this  world  of  strife;  a  friend  tried  and 
true,  as  staunch  a  friend  as  ever  I  hope  to  meet,  either 
here  or  hereafter.  To  me  she  was  a  continual  source  of 
inspiration.  Her  words  of  kindness  and  sympathy  held 
me  steady  in  times  when  all  seemed  black.  Life  was 
brighter  and  the  world  is  better  because  of  her  having 
lived  in  it. 

MR.  AND  MRS.  T.  P.  REARDON 
Hartford,  Connecticut 

We  owe  much  to  Mrs.  Vanderbilt.  She  opened  the 
way  for  Mr.  Reardon  (who  was  a  skeptic),  to  come  into 
the  full  realization  of  this  truth.  All  know  the  value  of 
her  work.  Possibly  silence  is  more  potent  than  words. 
We  know  her  day  is  not  o'er,  that  her  morning  is  just 
beyond. 


TRIBUTES  91 

MARY  DRAKE  JKNNE 

Camp  Etna,  Maine 

Secretary  of  the  Maine  Spiritualist  Association 

A  great  soul,  baptized  with  the  trials  and  sorrows  of 
earth,  was  sent  by  the  loving  All-Father  to  minister  unto 
the  children  of  Camp  Etna  for  a  time — but  ere  we  had 
learned  to  appreciate  fully  the  value  and  beauty  of  so 
priceless  a  jewel,  she,  our  beloved  president,  teacher, 
friend,  was  called  to  grace  the  council  chambers  of  the 
spirit-world  with  her  royal  presence;  and  we  are  left 
wondering  how  we  can  go  on  without  her  physical  pres- 
ence to  assist  and  guide  us.  A  great  light  has  departed 
from  our  midst  to  shine  in  regal  splendor  in  that  home 
Out  There,  of  which  she  has  told  us. 

Coming  to  Camp  Etna  in  the  earlier  years  of  her  me- 
diumship,  continuing  her  annual  and  in  later  years  her 
semi-annual  visits,  her  marvelous  work  among  us  is  far 
beyond  the  power  of  my  humble  pen  to  portray.  We  at 
Camp  Etna  have  in  her  ministrations  been  indeed  a  fa- 
vored people.  Our  gratitude  never  can  be  fully  expressed. 
May  no  shadows  separate  her  emancipated  spirit  from  us ! 


JOHN  J.  HAMILTON 
Santiago,  Chile 

There  are  some  who  feel  that  the  taking  from  the 
physical  plane  of  an  entity  so  highly  evolved  and  capable 
of  doing  such  a  great  good  work  is  indicative  of  the  lack 
of  a  universal  intelligence,  while  others  who  have  inter- 
ested themselves  in  such  subjects  as  reincarnation  and 
karma  feel  that  in  all  probability  just  the  contrary  is  true; 
that  it  is  by  design  that  such  souls  come  into  physical 
incarnation,  serve  their  time  in  helping,  and  then  pass 
on  at  the  proper  moment  to  join  the  ranks  awaiting  them 
where  they  may  serve  to  greater  advantage ;  then  to  be 
reincarnated  at  a  later  period,  with  the  same  group  of 


92  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

evolving  entities,  for  the  purpose  of  leading  them  on  to 
higher  thought. 

Whether  or  not  reincarnation  is  a  fact  in  nature,  Mrs 
Vanderbilt's  mediumship  was  no  doubt  convincing  and 
consoling  to  many  a  fair-minded  skeptic. 

For  a  long  time  I  have  been  interested  in  Spiritism, 
Spiritualism  and  allied  subjects,  for  the  purpose  of  study- 
ing them,  and  have  gone  to  many  capable  mediums.  Pre- 
vious to  hearing  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  I  never  had  witnessed 
the  work  of  a  medium  which  was  really  convincing  be- 
yond all  doubt  of  the  existence  of  human  intelligence 
after  the  death  of  the  physical  body.  I  heard  her  on  three 
different  occasions  and  every  reading  was  a  masterpiece. 

No  one  who  has  studied  human  evolution  could  possi- 
bly have  come  into  contact  with  her  without  realizing  the 
presence  of  a  highly  evolved  entity.  Believers  in  rein- 
carnation must  have  felt  that  during  a  past  incarnation 
they  had  done  something  good  that  entitled  them  to  the 
privilege  of  knowing  her  in  this  one. 


MARY  E.  DONOVAN 
Lake  Pleasant,  Massachusetts 

No  tribute  is  too  great  to  pay  to  the  memory  of  one 
who  has  been  so  splendidly  able  to  soften  the  blow 
tvhen  those  who  are  nearest  and  dearest  to  us  enter  into 
the  life  of  the  Great  Beyond.  Mary  Pepper  Vanderbilt 
convincingly  demonstrated  the  philosophy  of  immortal 
life,  teaching  that  the  passing  of  the  soul  is  a  step  for- 
ward on  the  highway  of  progress,  and  not  a  thing  to 
grieve  over. 

So  we  console  ourselves  that  her  mission  on  this  plsfne 
of  action — so  far  as  her  visible  presence  was  concerned 
— was  ended;  that  need  for  her  wonderful  gift  was  far 
greater  Out  There,  where  she  has  no  doubt  taken  her 
place  in  the  ranks  of  great  workers  who  have  preceded 
her.  Truly  can  her  co-workers  and  friends  bow  to  the 
inevitable  and  say,  "Our  loss  i§  their  gain," 


TRIBUTES  93 

FLORENCE  E.  HA  WES 
Camp  Etna,  Maine 

I  am  very  glad  to  add  my  testimony  of  the  great  ability 
and  wonderful  psychic  powers  of  our  dear  arisen  presi- 
dent, Mary  S.  Vanderbilt.  I  have  been  a  regular  attend- 
ant at  the  meetings  held  at  Camp  Etna  for  many  years, 
and  at  times  have  been  astounded  at  the  accuracy  with 
which  she  could  deliver  messages  to  many  different  ones, 
sometimes  delving  into  family  history,  and  giving  names 
and  relationships  with  wonderful  accuracy.  Camp  Etna 
and  the  cause  of  Spiritualism  have  certainly  met  with  an 
irreparable  loss  in  the  passing  to  higher  life  of  this  dearly 
loved  one,  but  we  feel  she  will  still  work  with  us  as 
faithfully  as  ever. 

MRS.  MARY  D.  LUEY 
Brooklyn,  New  York 

The  memory  of  my  dearest  friend,  Mrs.  Mary  Van- 
derbilt, will  always  live  with  me,  as  one  who  always 
stood  ready  to  do  all  she  could  at  any  time,  who  saved 
my  life  in  a  great  sorrow,  and  showed  me  the  light. 

H.  A.  BUDDINGTON 

Lake  Pleasant,  Massachusetts 

Mary  S.  Vanderbilt!  A  name  that  fascinated  thou- 
sands who  for  years  assembled  in  the  camp  at  Lake 
Pleasant,  and  elsewhere.  Her  mediumship  rapidly  ad- 
vanced in  ability  and  accuracy  from  year  to  year  until  it 
won  the  respect  of  all  hearers ;  and  her  tender  sympathy 
captivated  the  bereaved,  the  broken-hearted  mourners. 

She  rose  from  humble  surroundings  to  be  one  of  the 
most  convincing  mediums  to  be  found  in  the  ranks  of 
the  world  workers  in  spiritual  fields.  Her  influence  as  a 
message  bearer  became  a  leading  power  all  over  the 
North  American  continent. 


94  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

H.  C.  BERRY 

Editor  of   The  Banner  of  Life 
\ 

In  the  passing  of  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  Spiritual- 
ism loses  one  of  its  most  able  and  convincing  exponents ; 
in  her  lecture  work  she  was  second  to  none,  and  her 
messages  were  convincing  and  many  times  startling  in 
their  accuracy,  and  clearness.  She  was  without  a  supe- 
rior in  her  chosen  work,  and  has  convinced  thousands  of 
the  truth  of  our  glorious  philosophy.  A  great  hearted, 
generous  woman,  a  true  friend,  a  strong  opponent  of 
what  she  conceived  to  be  wrong,  possessed  of  a  com- 
manding personality,  and  a  strong  personal  magnetism, 
she  demanded  and  received  the  respect  of  all  who  heard 
her. 

REV.  TILLIE  U.  REYNOLDS 
Troy,  N.  Y. 

It  was  my  privilege  at  different  times  to  spend  weeks 
with  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  in  the  home  life,  and  thus  I  knew 
her  better  than  I  could  have  done  in  camps  or  meetings. 
Having  also  worked  as  an  officer  with  her  I  can  testify 
to  her  wonderful  executive  ability.  My  pen  is  weak 
when  it  attempts  to  portray  anything  regarding  this  most 
gifted  medium,  whose  works  do  follow  her.  As  we  loved 
her  in  the  body,  so  we  love  her  in  spirit,  and  ask  that  she 
come  to  aid  us  in  the  work  so  dear  to  her  and  to  us  all. 

AURIN  F.  HILL  AND  IZETTA  B.  SEARS-HILL 
Boston,  Massachusetts 

Knowing  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  for  several  years, 
we  respected  her  for  her  activity  and  earnestness  and 
success  in  the  cause  of  Spiritualism.  .  .  .  We  shall 
miss  her  visible  presence,  though  we  know  that  she  is 
still  an  active  spirit  among  us. 


TRIBUTES  95 

MRS.  W.  F.  BOGUE  AND  FAMILY 
Norwich,  Connecticut 

Dear  Friend: — We  wish  to  extend  to  you  our  heart- 
felt sympathy  in  your  bereavement.  We  can  truly  mourn 
with  you,  for  her  going  has  taken  from  all  of  us  a  cher- 
ished and  sympathizing  friend.  May  the  realization  of 
her  nearness  comfort  you  in  the  days  to  come. 

ABBIE  A.  AVERILL 
Lynn,   Massachusetts 

In  the  work  for  Spiritualism  I  have  been  associated 
with  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  for  twenty-five  years.  Also  I  have 
entertained  her  many  times  in  my  home,  and  have  been 
entertained  at  her  summer  home.  My  appreciation  of  the 
many  sterling  traits  in  her  character  and  my  admiration 
of  her  wonderfully  generous  nature  have  increased  with 
every  passing  year.  In  all  my  association  with  her  she 
has  never  failed  to  justify  my  faith  in  her  absolute  in- 
tegrity of  purpose  and  an  ever-increasing  desire  to  give 
her  very  best  to  the  cause  to  which  her  life  was  dedicated. 
In  her  passing,  Spiritualism  has  been  deprived  of  one  of 
its  strongest  pillars. 

LUTHER  W.  BIXBY 
Lake  Pleasant,  Massachusetts 

Lake  Pleasant  will  not  for  many  years  recover  from 
the  loss  of  this  great  medium,  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt.  Her 
work  extended  far  outside  the  ranks  of  Spiritualists,  and 
attracted  many  each  year  from  the  surrounding  towns 
to  obtain  messages,  or  to  be  given  tests  of  spirit  individ- 
uality that  would  convince  the  most  skeptical.  The  lec- 
tures given  by  her  guides  were  educational  along  spiritual 
lines,  and  uplifting.  We  hope  her  spiritual  guidance  will 
continue  to  impress  many  who  come  here  each  year,  that 
we  may  progress  on  this  plane  and  so  meet  her  hereafter, 
with  the  fruits  of  her  labor  among  us. 


96  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

MARTIN  L.  REYNOLDS 
Sidney,  Maine 

I  have  known  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  favorably  and  well  for 
many  years,  and  feel  at  this  time  to  pay  my  simple  tribute 
to  the  worth  of  one  who,  I  believe,  has  brought  us  nearer 
to  our  departed  loved  ones  of  other  days,  than  anyone 
who  ever  passed  from  life  to  enrich  the  realm  of  the 
spirit-world. 

N.  A.  LEU 
Lynn,  Massachusetts 

A  woman  of  sterling  worth;  fearless  and  aggressive 
toward  the  enemies  of  Spiritualism ;  always  ready  to  help 
the  cause.  Outspoken  to  friend  and  foe;  never  saying 
behind  one's  back  that  which  she  would  not  say  before 
one's  face.  She  has  made  a  name  in  Spiritualism  never 
to  be  forgotten. 

WILL  E.  BARTELL 
Bellows  Falls,  Vermont 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt  has  given  comfort  and  consolation  to 
many  a  hungry  soul,  and  her  life  has  been  full  of  bless- 
ings to  humanity.  She  was  truly  one  of  the  greatest  mes- 
sengers between  the  two  worlds.  May  her  progression 
be  limitless  in  the  new  life. 

OSCAR  A.  EDGERLY 
Chicago,  Illinois 

Acquainted  as  I  was  with  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt 
for  over  thirty  years,  from  my  heart  I  can  say,  in  com- 
mon with  all  Spiritualists,  that  to  know  her  was  to  appre- 
ciate her  worth  and  to  realize  that  she  was  possessed  of 
heavenborn  inspiration  that  made  her  a  light  bearer  amid 
the  dark  shadows  of  earth  life.  That  she  has  gone  from 
our  midst  makes  her  none  the  less  a  guide  with  con- 
sciousness illuminated  to  aid  and  bless. 


MARY  S.  VANDERBILT  97 


MRS.  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 
TEACHER,  PSYCHIC,  FRIEND 

In  the  softly  fading  twilight, 

In  the  hush  of  the  world's  busy  din, 
When  Nature  seems  in  sympathy 

With  the  spirit's  longing  within — 
A  longing  for  those  who  have  left  us, 

For  a  glimpse  of  the  dear,  loving  face, 
A  touch  of  the  hand  that  we  cherished, 

A  longing  for  the  tender  embrace— 

Twas  thus  that  I  sat  in  the  silence 

Grieving  and  deeply  distressed; 
Fast  falling  tears  from  a  sad  heart 

Refused  to  be  longer  repressed. 
Shall  I  never  hear  her  dear  voice 

Or  see  her  sweet  smile  again? 
Has  she  really,  entirely,  left  us, 

Shall  our  longing  be  all  in  vain? 

We  could  not  think  she  would  go  away, 

We,  so  much,  needed  her  here. 
She  was  Teacher,  Helper,  Friend, 

And  all  that  to  us  was  most  dear. 
She  had  taught  us  the  meaning  of  life; 

She  had  helped  to  lighten  the  way; 
This  wonderful  Psychic  and  friend 

Who  from  the  Truth  no  one  could  sway. 


98  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

The  spirit's  longing  is  answered, 

They  come  from  their  spirit  home; 
They  lift  the  cloud  of  sadness, 

We  are  no  longer  alone. 
The  spirit  had  touched  MY  spirit, 

Time  and  space  were  naught  to  me; 
She  answered  my  weeping  impatience, 

She  seemed  very  real  to  me. 

As  she  spoke  to  me  in  the  silence 

And  made  my  rest  complete, 
The  dear  voice  was  just  as  tender, 

The  loving  smile  just  as  sweet. 
"I  am  FREE,  as  the  air  of  morning, 

Free  as  a  bird  on  the  wing; 
The  flesh  no  longer  confines  me 

And  a  blessing  to  you  I  bring. 

I  live,  and  love  those  who  love  me, 

Death  has  not  touched  my  soul ; 
I  shall  love  and  work  forever, 

Shall  live  while  eternities  roll. 
Then  weep  not  or  mourn  for  the  parting, 

There  IS  'only  a  thin  veil  between.' 
I  visit  you  often,  my  dear  ones, 

Am  near  you  even  though  unseen." 

O,  many  times  she  has  told  us 

That  she  stood  in  the  open  door — 
The  door  was  left  still  open 

When  the  angels  ferried  her  o'er. 
Her  promise  is  sure  and  sacred; 

I  know  she  is  loyal  and  true; 
Her  message  is  full  of  comfort, 

She  WILL  come  to  me  and  to  you. 

FLORA  F.  THOMPSON. 
Fayville,  Massachusetts. 


CHAPTER  X. 
RESOLUTIONS 

FIRST  SPIRITUALIST  LADIES'  AID  SOCIETY, 
BOSTON,  MASS. 

Resolved,  That  we,  as  members  of  the  First  Spiritualist 
Ladies'  Aid  Society,  sincerely  mourn  her  departure  from 
this  physical  life,  and  extend  to  the  bereaved  husband,  sis- 
ter and  mourning  friends,  our  heartfelt  sympathy  in  their 
great  loss.  Her  task  on  earth  is  done,  but  we  shall  sit 
with  her  in  the  brightness  of  our  souls,  and  there  wreath 
our  chosen  flowers  of  memory  for  her.  It  is  by  such 
souls,  unselfish,  energetic,  versed  in  its  traditions,  jealous 
of  its  good  name,  that  Spiritualism  has  reached  a  high 
plane  among  the  religions  of  today.  In  the  fadeless  light 
of  the  Summerland  she  surely  finds  sweet  companionship, 
and  with  those  spirits  who  have  gone  before,  waits  to 
give  us  greetings  when  we  shall  answer  the  call  of  the 
Great  Spirit. 

COMPOUNCE  SPIRITUALIST  ASSOCIATION 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  members  of  the  Compounce 
Spiritualist  Association,  do  here  and  now  pay  tribute  to 
that  noble  soul,  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
whose  passing  to  the  Summerland  has  left  a  space  in  the 
ranks  of  the  workers  in  Modern  Spiritualism  that  never 
can  be  filled ; 

A  whole-souled  woman,  a  tried  friend,  a  medium  dis- 
tinctly in  a  class  by  herself,  never  equalled  in  the  quality 
of  her  work  and  the  divine  self-sacrificing  manner  in 
which  she  devoted  her  life  and  energy  to  the  cause  she 
loved. 

99 


100  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

For  eighteen  years  faithfully  and  well  has  she  served 
this  Association  as  speaker  and  message  bearer.  During 
that  time  thousands  have  been  comforted;  and,  because 
of  that  comfort,  blest  the  name  of  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt. 
Through  her  ministrations  thousands  have  been  turned 
toward  the  light  that  shines  beyond  the  change  called 
death. 

Since  1911,  in  her  capacity  as  president  of  this  Associ- 
ation, her  wisdom  and  foresight  have  guided  us  as  the 
faithful  pilot  ever  does  the  ship  within  his  care.  Now 
the  door  of  immortality  has  opened,  and  the  angels  have 
called  unto  themselves  this  one  who  served  them  so  faith- 
fully, cheerfully  and  well,  even  when  the  tongue  of  puny 
souls  wagged  mightily,  and  the  easier  course  would  have 
been  to  leave  the  ship  helpless  to  toss  about  on  the  sea  of 
strife. 

May  we  who  honor  her  realize  that  our  loss  has  been 
her  gain.  We  extend  our  sincere  sympathy  and  our 
greatest  comfort  to  those  dear  ones  left  behind;  those 
who  knew  the  celebrated  medium — the  good,  true,  staunch 
woman,  who  looked  the  whole  world  straight  in  the  face. 
May  they  understand  that  her  mighty  soul,  that  never 
was  known  to  desert  a  friend  here,  will  not  desert  them 
in  the  Land  Out  There.  May  their  grief  be  lightened  by 
the  knowledge  she  so  wonderfully  exemplified. 

CONNECTICUT  STATE  SPIRITUALIST  ASSOCIATION 

Resolved,  That  in  the  passing  to  spirit  life  of  our  sister 
and  co-worker,  Rev.  Mary  Scannell  Vanderbilt,  the  cause 
of  Spiritualism  has  been  deprived  of  the  most  powerful 
and  convincing  exponent  of  the  fact  of  life  beyond  the 
grave  and  of  the  communion  of  spirits  with  mortals  of 
our  times.  For  more  than  thirty  years  she  has  brought 
comfort  to  the  sorrowing,  hope  to  the  despondent,  and 
conviction  to  the  doubting.  She  was  a  true  medium,  con- 
secrating her  best  physical  and  mental  powers  to  the  work 
of  so  blending  the  physical  and  spiritual  forces  that  the 
world  might  know  for  a  certainty  that  the  death  of  the 


RESOLUTIONS  101 

I 

physical  is  but  the  new  birth  of  the  spiritual.  She  was  a 
true  martyr.  She  gave  her  life  as  a  sacrifice  that  the 
world  might  know  "There  Is  No  Death." 

The  Connecticut  State  Spiritualist  Association  mourns 
the  loss  of  an  efficient  officer,  an  attractive,  eloquent  and 
forceful  public  speaker,  and  a  genuine  bearer  of  messages 
from  spirits  to  mortals. 

The  sympathy  and  consolation  of  its  members  is  hereby 
extended  to  the  husband  and  sister,  whose  grief  will  be 
softened  by  the  knowledge  that  their  loved  one  will  ever 
be  present  in  spirit  until  the  glad  meeting-time  "Over 
There." 

ETNA  SPIRITUALIST  ASSOCIATION  OF  ETNA,  MAINE 

Resolved,  That  mere  words  cannot  fittingly  express  the 
magnitude  of  our  irreparable  loss;  that  greater  medium- 
istic  gifts  never  were  bestowed  upon  mortal ;  that  greater 
zeal  in  their  manifestation  has  never  been  displayed ;  that 
more  unswerving  loyalty  to  the  cause  has  never  been 
shown.  A  truer  friend  has  not  been  found.  Her  mem- 
ory will  live ;  her  influence  will  increase  through  the  ages. 
It  is  further 

Resolved,  That  we  hereby  extend  to  our  esteemed 
brother,  Mr.  E.  W.  Vanderbilt,  and  to  our  dear  sister, 
Miss  Harriet  Scannell,  our  deep  sympathy  in  their  sad 
bereavement,  and  we  commend  them  to  the  consolations 
of  our  noble  faith,  which  teaches  us  that  our  departed 
sister  still  lives,,  surrounded  by  loving  friends,  in  a  realm 
of  beauty,  where  love  and  service  are  the  uplifting  ideals 
for  which  they  strive. 

LYNN  SPIRITUALIST  ASSOCIATION  OF  LYNN,  MASS. 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  members  of  the  Lynn  Spiritual- 
ist Association  of  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  feel  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  prosperity  that  has  been  attended  our 
society  since  its  inception,  has  been  due  to  the  wonderful 
mediumship  and  wise  counsel  of  our  arisen  sister ; 


102  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

Resolved,  That  we,  in  common  with  Spiritualists  all 
over  the  country,  do  sincerely  mourn  her  departure  from 
our  midst;  and  we  hereby  renew  our  pledge  to  do  all  in 
our  power  to  further  the  best  interests  of  the  cause  to 
which  she  devoted  her  life; 

Resolved,  That  the  sympathy  of  this  society  is  hereby 
extended  to  her  beloved  companion,  her  cherished  sister, 
and  all  other  mourning  friends  and  relatives ;  may  they  be 
comforted  and  sustained  in  this,  their  hour  of  sorrow. 

MAINE  SPIRITUALIST  ASSOCIATION 

Our  beloved  sister,  teacher*  co-worker,  a  friend  to  all 
humanity,  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  has  obeyed  the  summons 
and  responded  to  the  call,  "Come  higher."  Her  long  and 
patient  struggle  for  expression  on  this  side  of  life  where 
still  she  might  minister  to  the  hungry  and  desolate  ones 
of  earth,  ended  on  the  morning  of  April  27,  1919,  when 
death,  so-called,  came  with  silent  tread  and  stooped  to 
kiss  her  feet  at  sunrise;  and  her  tired  and  beautiful  soul 
found  release  and  repose  within  the  heavenly  portals  of 
peace  and  love  among  those  great  souls  who  embody  wis- 
dom, truth  and  light. 

We  stand  in  reverence  to  do  her  homage,  even  as  she 
stood  before  the  altar  of  truth,  staunch  and  steadfast, 
firm  and  sure  in  her  knowledge,  her  realization  of  con- 
tinuous life — a  knowledge  of  which  she  gave  ample  proof 
through  her  own  psychic  power,  her  highly  developed 
soul.  Today  of  all  days,  through  the  law  of  vibration, 
her  emancipated  spirit  is  blending  with  ours.  She  is  close 
beside  us — 

"So  near  methinks  I  feel  her — hand — 
So  closely  lies  the  Borderland." 

So  let  us  of  this  Association  draw  closer  together,  dear 
brothers  and  sisters,  in  love  and  truth,  and  meet  our  dear 
sister  on  an  equal  plane.  Let  us  meet  her  at  least  half 
way  as  she  reaches  down  to  us  over  the  roadway  of  at- 


RESOLUTIONS  103 

tainment  and  uplift.  To  say  we  shall  not  miss  her  familiar 
physical  form  would  be  all  in  vain ;  but  let  us  try  to  emu- 
late her  many  virtues,  and  carry  on  the  work  she  so  ably 
expounded.  • 

O,  dear  arisen  one,  how  our  hearts  yearn  for  thee — 
Thou  who  hast  overcome,  and  thy  spirit  been  set  free ! 

***** 

Go  forth  once  more,  unhampered  now  by  any  earthly  bar, 
For  thou  hast  cast  aside  the  dross,  and  the  gates  have 
swung  ajar. 


Resolved,  That  we,  the  Maine  Spiritualists'  Association, 
in  convention  assembled,  here  mourn  the  absence  of  our 
distinguished  sister  and  shall  in  memory  ever  hold  her  in 
the  highest  esteem;  that  the  Etna  Camp  Association  has 
lost  one  who  gave  of  her  time  and  strength  unceasingly 
for  its  upbuilding;  who  was  its  honored  president,  bene- 
factor and  friend,  for  many  years.  Her  place  in  the 
hearts  of  humanity  never  can  be  quite  filled  again. 


CHAPTER  XI 

DEDICATION  OF  MONUMENT 

to 
MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

CAMP  ETNA,  MAINE 
Sept.  18,  1919 

Camp  Etna,  Maine,  has  been  the  scene  of  many  noted 
gatherings  during  the  forty-three  years  of  its  existence. 
From  its  rostrum  have  been  heard  talented  men  and 
women  who  have  voiced  the  message  of  Spiritualism  to 
the  assembled  throngs.  Yet  never  were  more  impressive 
ceremonies  held  than  those  attending  the  dedication  of 
the  imposing  monument  that  marks  the  final  resting  place 
of  all  that  is  mortal  of  its  beloved  president,  Mary  S. 
Vanderbilt. 

The  site  chosen  was  Barrett  Square,  named  for  Harri- 
son D.  Barrett,  the  son  of  Maine,  and  first  president  of 
the  National  Spiritualists'  Association.  The  committee 
having  the  matter  in  charge  sought  long  and  diligently  for 
something  fitting  to  express  the  love  of  the  people  for 
America's  gifted  medium,  who  had  labored  so  long  and 
earnestly  in  their  midst.  No  ordinary  monument,  chis- 
eled by  the  hand  of  man,  would  do.  Finally,  in  the  great 
laboratory  of  Nature,  where  it  had  taken  millions  of 
years  to  perfect,  was  found  a  huge  boulder,  so  perfect  in 
every  way  that  the  committee  having  the  matter  in  charge, 

104 


DEDICATION  OF  MONUMENT  105 

composed  of  Mark  Barwise,  Frank  Bishop,  and  Mrs. 
Frost,  decided  that  no  further  search  need  be  made.  As 
the  medium  was  herself  divinely  inspired,  it  was  fitting 
that  God's  handiwork  alone  should  stand  before  the  world 
to  commemorate  the  work  she  had  wrought  during  her 
life's  journey. 

The  huge  boulder  weighs  about  twelve  tons,  and  was 
transported  from  a  farm  about  thirteen  miles  from  Etna, 
on  a  truck,  drawn  by  six  horses.  Upon  the  face  of  the 
boulder  is  simply  inscribed 

MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 
1919 

No  need  to  tell  who  she  was — the  smallest  child  in 
Etna's  Lyceum  knows — while  the  gray-haired  sire  bows 
in  grief  because  of  the  appalling  loss  that  has  fallen  upon 
Etna  in  the  loss  of  her  physical  presence. 

An  iron  railing  twenty  feet  square  encloses  the  monu- 
ment. Just  behind  the  boulder  has  been  erected  a  huge 
flagstaff,  the  gift  of  her  lifelong  friend,  Warren  R.  Fales, 
from  which  floats  a  magnificent  star  spangled  banner, 
presented  by  Mr.  E.  W.  Vanderbilt,  a  veteran  of  the 
Civil  War. 

The  day  was  resplendent  with  beauty.  Loving  hands 
made  the  enclosure  bright  with  flowers.  Lake  Pleasant 
Camp  was  represented  with  a  floral  piece  which  rested  at 
the  base  of  the  boulder,  while  upon  the  top  of  it  was  a 
floral  tribute  from  Etna  Camp. 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt's  chair  was  decorated  with  evergreens, 
purple  and  white  asters,  and  a  speaking  photograph 
of  the  arisen  one,  the  gift  of  Mr.  Vanderbilt,  was  placed 
in  the  chair.  Everyone  seemed  to  sense  her  presence,  and 
commented  upon  the  fact. 


106  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 


THE  MEMORIAL  SERVICES 

The  memorial  services  were  held  in  Barrett  Square. 
Vice-President  Samuel  L.  Packard  presided.  A  tempo- 
rary platform  had  been  erected  for  the  speakers  under 
the  shade  of  one  of  the  beautiful  trees.  The  park  was 
thronged  with  friends  from  far  and  near,  who  gathered 
for  this  special  occasion. 

Promptly  at  2  p.  m.  the  services  opened  with  the  sing- 
ing of  "Only  a  Thin  Veil  Between  Us,"  by  Professor  C. 
Leroy  Lyon,  after  which  Rev.  F.  A.  Wiggin,  pastor  of 
Unity  Church,  Boston,  Mass.,  gave  an  invocation. 

Amidst  a  most  impressive  silence,  Mr.  E.  W.  Vander- 
bilt,  husband  of  the  arisen  one,  then  stepped  inside  the 
railing  and  deposited  the  ashes  of  his  beloved  wife  and 
companion  in  a  spot  especially  prepared  for  their  recep- 
tion. A  moment  of  silence,  then  rose  again  the  voice  of 
the  singer,  "Only  Remembered  by  What  We  Have  Done." 
Each  dne  present  was  filled  with  emotion  as  the  thoughts 
came  of  how  much  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  had  done  for  Etna. 
Tears  came  unbidden  into  the  eyes  of  the  throngs  of 
people  who  listened  to  the  expressive  words,  "Only  re- 
membered by  what  we  have  done." 

Mrs.  M.  E.  Cadwallader,  editor  of  The  Progressive 
Thinker,  Chicago,  Illinois,  a  lifelong  friend  of  Mrs.  Van- 
derbilt, was  the  first  speaker.  Her  address  in  part  was 
as  follows: 


ADDRESS  OF  M.  E.  CADWALLADER 

"Away  from  the  turmoil,  strife  and  vicissitudes  of  daily 
life,  we  have  gathered  from  far  and  near  to  consecrate 
this  hour,  to  dedicate  this  shrine,  to  the  memory  of  our 
beloved  and  arisen  sister,  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt. 


DEDICATION  OF  MONUMENT  107 

"Every  heart  has  a  shrine,  every  home  a  sacred  spot, 
sacred  to  the  memory  of  our  loved  ones.  Therefore  we 
have  come  to  Etna  Camp  to  dedicate  a  shrine  which,  in 
all  the  ages  to  come,  shall  mark  the  enduring  work  of  the 
one  who  but  yesterday  was  in  our  midst,  as  well  as  to 
pledge  ourselves  anew  to  carry  on  her  mighty  task. 

"It  took  ages  to  prepare  for  the  coming  of  such  a  gifted 
soul.  The  angels  bending  low  at  her  cradle  imprinted  on 
her  brow  a  seal  which  set  her  apart  from  her  fellow  men. 
To  her  was  given,  as  a  gift  from  Heaven,  a  power  divine, 
enabling  her  to  go  forth  as  an  evangel  to  minister  to  the 
sorrowing.  She  became  a  comforter.  If  every  one  to 
whom  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  gave  a  message  from  an  arisen 
loved  one,  bidding  them  know  that  father,  mother,  hus- 
band, wife  or  child,  still  lived  in  the  land  of  immortality, 
could  but  place  a  single  grain  of  wheat  upon  this  shrine, 
they  would  be  as  numberless  as  the  sands  upon  the  sea- 
shore. 

"How  fitting  it  is  that  in  Maine  her  ashes  should  rest, 
here  where  she  wrought  with  such  enduring  power.  Firm 
as  the  rock  which  now  marks  their  resting  place  is  the 
foundation  which  she  built  during  the  years  she  labored 
among  you.  Here  it  stands  as  a  mighty  sentinel,  which 
shall  speak  to  the  coming  generations.  'Behold,  here  I 
have  wrought  for  you ;  where  I  planted  you  must  water ; 
you  must  reap  the  harvest  of  the  seed  I  have  sown.  Keep 
on  with  my  work,  beloved,  for  I  shall  keep  step  with 
you.' 

"Hew  well  she  labored !  New  England  was  dear  to  her 
heart — Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  she  served  until  in  every 
hamlet,  village,  town  and  city,  the  name  of  Mary  S.  Van- 
derbilt became  a  household  word  because  of  her  power 
as  a  comforter. 

"She  sought  neither  fame  nor  the  approbation  of  men 
or  women,  turning  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left,  as 
with  clearer  vision  she  followed  the  light  as  it  was  given 


108  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

to  her.  Fearless  in  her  defense  of  right,  strong  in  her 
determination  to  do  and  dare,  she  made  her  impress  upon 
the  minds  and  souls  of  all  who  meet  her. 

"Beloved  by  you  of  Etna,  she  returned  a  thousandfold 
your  affection;  yet  far  from  New  England  were  her 
marvelous  gifts  known.  Wherever  Spiritualism  is  known 
there  also  will  be  found  the  records  of  her  many  gifts,  for 
she  was  known  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  as 
well  as  across  the  seas. 

"Dear  friends,  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  is  not  dead.  She 
speaks  to  you  today,  and  will  speak  to  you  as  long  as  time 
will  endure.  In  the  rustling  of  the  wind  you  will  hear 
her;  in  the  babbling  of  the  brook;  in  the  beauty  of  the 
flower  she  will  speak.  But  in  no  more  potent  way  to  you 
here  in  Etna  will  she  speak  than  in  the  tones  of  the  bell 
calling  you  to  meeting.  You  remember  how  she  loved  to 
ring  the  bell.  It  was  to  her  a  sacred,  loving  service,  for 
twenty-four  years  ago,  at  Onset,  she  asked  her  friend 
Dr.  H.  B.  Storer,  'Why  do  you  ring  the  bell?  Let  some- 
one else  do  it,'  and  he  responded,  'I  love  to  ring  the  bell ; 
I  am  calling  my  people  to  come,  calling  them  to  come  and 
be  spiritually  fed.'  So  that  is  what  the  ringing  of  the  bell 
meant  to  her — 'I  am  calling  you  to  come.'  In  the  future, 
when  you  hear  it  peal  forth,  remember,  it  is  speaking  to 
you  of  her.  Listen  to  her,  and  heed  the  call  to  come  up 
higher. 

"Beloved  friends,  doubt  not  that  she  is  near.  Her  in- 
terest in  Etna  Camp  still  endures.  Love  still  persists  be- 
yond the  grave.  Spiritualism  teaches  there  is  no  death; 
that  our  loved  ones  live  and  love  us  still.  Let  this  shrine 
speak  to  your  hearts  of  her  great  love  for  you  and  of 
yours  for  her,  and  in  the  days  and  years  to  come,  take 
greater  heart  in  carrying  forward  the  work  she  started, 
until  the  harvest  shall  be  great  indeed.  So,  as  a  symbol 
of  the  garnering  from  the  field  of  her  endeavor,  I  place 
this  sheaf  of  wheat  upon  this  sacred  shrine,  to  emphasize 
the  harvest  she  has  reaped  from  the  seed  she  has  sown. 


DEDICATION  OF  MONUMENT  109 

"Yes,  we  shall  meet  her  again ;  again  we  shall  hear  her 
words  of  love,  again  see  her  radiant  smile,  in  that  land  of 
immortality  toward  which  we  are  journeying  home.  Re- 
member, beloved,  she  is  not  dead;  but,  all  bright  and 
beautiful,  our  dear  sister  treads  the  aisles  of  eternity. 
She  is  not  dead!" 

Following  Mrs.  Cadwallader's  address,  Professor  and 
Mrs.  Lyon  rendered,  "Where  the  Roses  Ne'er  Shall 
Wither,"  after  which  Rev.  F.  A.  Wiggins  delivered  the 
following  address: 


REV.  F.  A.  WIGGINS'  ADDRESS 

"We  have  this  hour  performed  the  sacred,  loving  ser- 
vice of  depositing  the  ashes  of  the  transient  temple 
through  which  a  life,  dear  to  us  all,  functioned  with  won- 
derful power. 

"It  is  an  unusual  force,  in  the  individual,  which,  amid 
the  tremendous  competition  of  the  hour,  is  sufficient  to 
leave  its  impress  upon  these  times.  Nature's  divine  pow- 
er, in  this  specific  life,  left  its  impress  upon  the  time  in  a 
great  variety  of  conspicuous,  real  loving  service,  but  in 
none  of  these  expressions  more  notably  than  in  a  spiritual 
endeavor  to  enrich  the  world's  thought  and  knowledge  of 
a  life  beyond  the  portals  of  the  grave.  She  made  earnest 
and  forceful  endeavor  to  establish  in  the  mind  of  mortals 
a  real  happiness,  by  a  thorough  removal  of  the  pangs  of 
sorrow  caused  by  the  transition  of  dearly  beloved  souls 
from  their  temples  of  time  to  their  eternal  abodes  of 
heavenly  bliss  and  delight.  From  time  to  time  souls  have 
been  born  into  this  world  who  have,  by  their  spiritual 
endeavor,  saved  it  from  being  engulfed  by  the  ceaseless 
incoming  waves  of  cold  materiality.  For  all  such  souls 
we  would  pay  our  tribute  of  loving  remembrance.  While 
recalling  in  our  minds  the  names  of  many  such,  and  the 


110  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

helpful  works  which  they  have  wrought,  today  stands  out 
most  prominently  in  our  thoughts  the  name  of  our  arisen 
friend  and  sister,  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  whose  ashes,  here 
in  this  sacred  spot,  now  mingle  with  the  dust  of  the  ages. 

"Above  these  ashes  loving  hands  have  placed  this  stone, 
to  mark  thfe  hallowed  spot.  Enduring  as  is  the  granite, 
far  more  lasting  will  be  the  life's  influence  of  her  whose 
loving  service  to  mankind  it  is  designated  to  perpetuate. 
These  simple  services,  I  am  sure,  are  absolutely  void  of 
every  aspect  of  conventionality.  I  am  equally  certain 
that  they  are  natural  and  spontaneous,  and  flow  forth 
from  loving  hearts. 

"The  individual  hearts  here,  in  this  multitude  of  loving 
friends,  are  as  rivulets  of  a  voluntary  flowing,  and  in  that 
flowing,  silently  they  express  a  thought  which  shall  live 
even  after  all  these  streamlets  shall  have  mingled  their 
energy  in  divine  unison  with  that  mighty  ocean  of  souls 
just  out  there  in  the  beyond. 

"Only  one  year  ago  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  in  whose 
honor  and  to  whose  memory  these  services  are  being  held, 
walked  in  your  midst  here  at  Etna,  a  giant  of  spiritual 
strength,  a  medium  of  comfort  to  your  souls.  We  should, 
and  we  do,  rejoice  that,  even  under  the  stress  of  the 
present  condition,  a  time  when  the  absence  of  her  phys- 
ical presence  strikes  us  all  with  an  almost  appalling 
strangeness,  we  feel  ourselves  under  no  necessity  of  re- 
sorting to  calling  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  'dead/  as  millions  of 
people  in  this  world,  under  similar  circumstances,  would 
be  compelled  to  do,  and  for  this,  our  especially  favored 
privilege,  we  owe  our  deepest  gratitude  to  our  Spiritu- 
alism, and  to  such  a  revealment  of  it  as  was  made  to  us 
by  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  who,  though  absent  in  the  phys- 
ical, is  nevertheless  really  present  with  us  in  all  that 
constitutes  a  veritable  personality. 

"She  taught  the  philosophy  of  continued  and  eternal 
living;  that  so-called  death  is  but  a  valued  change  and 
simply  an  event  in  never-ceasing  life.  By  virtue  of  her 


DEDICATION  OF  MONUMENT  111 

high  endowment  of  spiritual  mediumship,  she  thoroughly 
and  convincingly  demonstrated  as  a  truth  or  fact  of  Na- 
ture that  rich  philosophy  to  which  she  so  eloquently  gave 
utterance. 

"She  also  practicalized  the  philosophy  and  its  demon- 
strations to  the  every-day  human  life  right  here  among 
our  purely  human  activities.  She  taught  that  a  little  bit 
of  selfishness  is  too  much,  while  a  whole  lot  of  generosity 
is  not  enough ;  that  a  little  bit  of  strife  is  too  much,  while 
a  whole  lot  of  peace  is  not  enough;  that  a  little  bit  of 
hate  is  too  much,  while  a  whole  lot  of  love  is  not  enough ; 
that  the  world  may  have  too  much  selfishness,  but  can 
never  have  too  much  generosity;  that  it  may  have  too 
much  war,  but  it  can  never  have  too  much  peace;  that  it 
may  have  too  much  hate,  but  it  can  never  have  too  much 
love.  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  taught  this,  and  far  more,  and 
vital  is  the  fact  that  she  taught  this  by  both  precept  and 
example.  It  can  never  be  justly  denied  that  such  teach- 
ings are  sure  to  inspire  in  all  who  heed  them  a  holy  spirit 
of  truth  and  a  desire  to  seek  diligently  the  highest  ideals 
in  all  that  pertains  to  life  and  its  far-reaching  purposes, 
leading  to  a  conscience  void  of  all  offense  to  God  and  to 
our  fellowmen. 

"Well  she  might  have  cried  out  from  the  depths  of  her 
soul,  'O,  tempora!  0,  mores!'  (O,  the  times!  O,  the 
customs!)  for  our  arisen  sister,  teacher,  demonstrator  of 
eternal  truth,  and  co-worker,  lived  and  labored  in  times 
which  in  spiritual  endeavor  'tried  men's  souls.'  By  the 
chart  of  spirit  inspiration,  and  the  compass  of  spirit  help- 
ers, she  knew  the  way,  and  by  a  fearless  courage  she 
steered  the  ship  of  Spiritualism  in  the  exact  course  laid 
down  by  the  Divine  Navigator. 

"She  labored,  and  she  loved  her  labor,  and  although 
time  may  seem  not  to  have  overpaid  her,  eternity  will  not 
forget,  nor  will  her  reward  be  meager.  To  us,  and  to 


112  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

unborn  generations,  will  be  the  earthly  blessings.  I  can 
seem  to  hear  her  exclaim  to  u,s,  speaking  from  her  spirit 
home: 

'I  need  not  be  missed,  if  my  life  has  been  bearing 

(As  its  Summer  and  Autumn  moved  silently  on) 
The  bloom,  and  the  fruit,  and  the  seed  in  its  season : 
I  shall  be  remembered  by  what  I  have  done. 

UI  need  not  be  missed,  if  another  succeed  me 

To  reap  down  those  fields  which  in  Spring  I  have 

sown; 
He  who  ploughed  and  who  sowed  is  not  missed  by 

the  reaper; 
He  is  only  remembered  by  what  he  has  done.' 

"And,  as  a^  refrain  to  this,  we  will  endeavor  heart  fully 
to  respond  in  the  language  of  Lizzie  Doten : 

'Blest  spirit !   we  will  weep  no  more, 
But  lay  our  selfishness  to  rest : 
Condition's  laws  which  we  respect 
Have  ordered  all  things  for  the  best. 
Life's  battle  fought,  the  victory  won, 
To  nobler  toils  pass  on !  pass  on !' 

"It  will  not  be  my  purpose  to  set  forth  in  detail  her 
marvelous  labors  in  behalf  of  human  betterment.  The 
limitation  of  time  allotted  me  would  prevent  such  an  un- 
dertaking, and  I  am  not  unmindful  that  this  at  once  be- 
comes the  labor  of  the  brains  and  loving  handiwork  of 
her  biographer. 

"You  of  Etna  owe  much  to  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  for 
what  she  wrought  of  vital  helpfulness  here  in  your  midst. 
To  you  of  Etna  has  fallen  the  honor  and  priceless  privi- 
lege of  becoming  the  custodians  of  her  ashes,  together 
with  this  granite  index  of  their  resting  place.  Not  for 
one  moment  do  we  distrust  your  purpose  to  guard  this 


DEDICATION  OF  MONUMENT  118 

sacred  trust  which  reposes  within  your  keeping.  You 
have  been  faithful  in  the  years  past  to  other  trusts,  but 
these  ashes  and  this  block  of  granite,  of  so  great  signifi- 
cance to  the  cause  which  you  espouse,  imposes  upon  you 
an  added  and  much  larger  obligation  than  has  heretofore 
rested  upon  you.  You  will  plant  here  the  flowers  of 
loving  thoughtfulness.  You  will  water  them,  not  with 
your  tears  of  sorrow  (because  you  are  Spiritualists,  and 
know  the  meaning  of  life's  changes),  but  with  the  tears 
of  your  joy.  You  will  give  them  constant  growth  by  the 
sunshine  of  your  smiles,  for  you  will  not  fail  to  give 
love's  sweet  smile  as  you  look  upon  this  spot,  even  though 
the  smile  be  mingled  with  your  tears.  You  will  do  far 
more  than  this.  You  will  tell  the  story  of  Mary  S. 
Vanderbilt's  life  and  labors  to  your  children,  for  even 
unborn  generations  must  in  turn  not  be  allowed  to  forget. 

"Enduring  as  is  this  block  of  granite,  time's  relentless 
teeth  will  disintegrate  its  present  solidity  and  reduce  it  all 
to  common  dust.  It  is  for  you  to  teach  your  children  to 
love  her,  and  also  to  impress  them  to  teach  their  children 
to  keep  green  and  fresh  this  cherished  memory.  You 
should  forget  none  whose  loving  labor  has  become  your 
benefactor. 

"Dear  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  loved  you.  She  also  dearly  loved 
Etna.  The  ashes  of  her  earthly  temple  are  here;  this 
granite  marks  their  resting  place,  because  of  her  love  for 
you  and  for  Etna.  Even  when  her  spirit  pulsated  in  the 
physical  body,  racked  with  pain,  she  tenderly  thought  of 
you  and  dear  Etna  Camp.  It  is  because  of  her  thought 
of  you,  in  the  most  trying  hour  of  her  human  life,  that 
we  are  today  gathered  about  this  spot,  forever  made 
sacred  by  these  ashes  and  this  granite  monument.  Had 
it  not  been  for  her  love  for  you  and  Etna  and  your  love 
for  her,  which  she  so  richly  merits  from  you,  this  block 
of  granite  would  have  forever  slept  in  its  native  soil.  It 
was  love  that  found  it.  It  was  love  that  brought  it  here. 


114  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

It  must  in  all  future  time  be  love,  and  love  alone,  which 
will  keep  alive  that  great  thing  for  which  it  now  stands 
within  your  loving  keeping. 

"And  not  to  you  of  Etna  alone  is  given  the  privilege 
of  extending  to  her,  memory,  love  and  gratitude.  While 
Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  labored  for  you  and  with  you,  no 
less  was  her  loving  service  bestowed  upon  peoples  remote 
from  this  place.  She  labored  everywhere  where  time  and 
circumstances  permitted,  and  with  that  same  unselfish 
devotion  which  so  pre-eminently  characterized  her  efforts 
in  your  midst.  Nor  was  her  endeavor  to  aid  humanity 
confined  even  to  America,  for  where  the  Atlantic  waves 
beat  against 'their  thither  shores  her  voice  was  fearlessly 
and  cheerfully  raised  in  defense  of  Spiritualism. 

"Large  as  is  this  audience,  it  is  but  a  handful  to  that 
vast  multitude  in  both  America  and  Europe,  whose 
thoughts  of  gratitude  for  her  service  now,  this  moment, 
are  centered  upon  this  place  and  this  occasion.  Through- 
out this  broad  world  her  name  is  a  household  word  among 
Spiritualists  and  lovers  of  religious  and  mental  freedom. 
The  people  knew  and  loved  her.  Like  many  another,  we 
knew  her  to  be — 

'Light  and  shade  by  turns, 
But  Love  always.' 

"We  would  not  fail,  upon  this  occasion,  to  make  men- 
tion of  Mrs.  Vanderbilt's  most  sacred  precincts  of  life's 
functioning,  the  home  circle  and  close  friendship's  rela- 
tions. Strong  and  helpful  in  public  life,  where  she  came 
in  touch  with  vast  throngs  several  times  almost  every 
week  and  for  many  years,  her  greatest  and  truest  worth 
was  most  vitally  felt  by  those  who  knew  her  as  the  gen- 
eral public  could  not  know  her.  Here  her  high  develop- 
ment of  mediumship  was  best  known  and  appreciated  at 
its  real  and  true  value.  She  here,  in  the  home  and  at 
friendship's  holy  shrine,  demonstrated  the  truth  of  Lord 
Lytton,  who  so  beautifully  writes : 


DEDICATION  OF  MONUMENT  115 

'There  is  no  death !  The  stars  go  down 
To  rise  upon  some  fairer  shore; 

And  bright  in  Heaven's  jeweled  crown 
They  shine  forevermore. 

'There  is  no  death !   The  dust  we  tread 

Shall  change  beneath  the  summer  showers 

To  golden  grain,  or  mellowed  fruit, 
Or  rainbow-tinted  flowers. 

'And  ever  near  us,  though  unseen, 

The  dear  immortal  spirits  tread, 
For  all  the  boundless  universe 

Is  life — There  are  no  dead.' 


"To  her  dear  husband,  Mr.  Vanderbilt,  and  to  her 
closest  and  most  cherished  friends,  must  come  with 
especial  force  the  truth  of  Longfellow : 


'With  a  slow  and  noiseless  footstep 

Comes  that  messenger  divine; 
Takes  the  vacant  chair  beside  me, 

Lays  her  gentle  hand  in  mine. 

'And  she  sits  and  gazes  at  me 

With  those  deep  and  tender  eyes ; 
Like  the  stars,  so  still  and  saint-like, 
Looking  downward  from  the  skies.' 

"And  so,  Mary  S.  Vanderbilt  has  lived,  loved,  and  been 
loved  by  a  host  of  souls.  No  loss,  no  sorrow,  nothing 
will,  or  can,  take  away  that  joy.  This,  all  this,  was  hers. 
This,  all  this,  is  hers  now.  This  was  and  is  her  supreme 
heritage.  With  this  divine  truth  she  is  crowned,  a  glory 
which,  from  her  earliest  days,  she  wore  even  as  the 
morning  wears  the  sunrise. 


116  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

"Love  is  not  a  perishing  bow  upon  our  poor,  fleeting, 
imaginary  heavens.  Love  is  not  a  mere  dream — a  dream 
within  a  perplexing  dream — nor  is  it  a  vain  image,  transi- 
tory as  the  traveling  shadow  of  a  cloud-wave. 

"Life  without  loving  service  is  slightly,  if  anything, 
more  than  mere  existence.  Life  without  loving  service 
fails  to  linger  in  the  memory  of  mankind;  it  fails  to 
make  an  impress  upon  the  times.  Life  with  loving  service 
is  that  which  is  loveliest  and  most  of  all  things  enduring. 
It  is  an  eternal  flame,  an  enduring  facet,  the  beauty  of 
all  beauty.  Such  a  life  whispers  help  into  every  listening 
ear;  it  is  a  dancing  flame,  a  beacon  light,  dispelling  dark- 
ness, and  it  floods  all  gloomy  states  of  life  with  a  sure 
and  certain  emancipation  from  all  distresses. 

"Mary  S.  Vanderbilt,  our  teacher,  our  leader,  our  in- 
spiration, the  wife,  the  true  and  highly  valued  friend,  has 
moved  out  to  pitch  her  tent  not  far  away.  In  the  deepest 
and  truest  of  all  senses,  we  know  that  she  remains  with 
all  whom  she  used  to  love  and  serve.  We  feel  her  pres- 
ence, we  will  still  be  amenable  to  her  high  and  holy  in- 
spiration, we  will  endeavor,  as  best  we  may,  to  sense  her 
presence  and  helpfulness,  knowing  and  fully  realizing 
that  we  shall  again  hear  her  voice,  again  clasp  her  hand, 
and  again  see  her  face  to  face,  'When  death  shall  stoop 
to  kiss  our  feet  at  sunrise  in  the  morning.' " 

The  services  concluded  with  a  benediction  by  Mr.  Wig- 
gin.  Then  the  cornetist  sweetly  sounded  "taps,"  and  the 
star  spangled  banner,  which  during  the  services  had  been 
lowered  to  half-mast,  was  raised  to  the  top. 

During  the  services  every  member  of  Etna  Association 
wore  a  white  ribbon,  the  insignia  of  spirit-return,  and  as 
"taps"  sounded,  all  present  walked  silently  up  to  the 
enclosure  and  each  placed  a  flower  for  remembrance. 

It  was  an  impressive  sight;  old  and  young  all  alike 
eager  to  do  honor  to  their  loved  friend.  Mr.  E.  W.  Van- 


DEDICATION  OP  MONUMENT  117 

derbilt,  Miss  Harriet  Scannell  (Mrs.  Vanderbilt's  sister), 
Mr.  Warren  R.  Fales,  and  Mrs.  Clara  Edwards,  secretary 
of  Lake  Pleasant  Camp,  were  in  a  group  just  at  the  en- 
trance to  the  monument,  while  the  entire  park  was  filled 
with  friends. 

All  throughout  the  services  the  large  audience  listened 
with  rapt  attention  to  the  speakers.  The  board  of  di- 
rectors had  spared  no  pains  to  make  the  day  one  to  be 
remembered  in  the  annals  of  the  Camp. 

Everyone  was  pleased  that  the  clouds,  which  had  hung 
over  Etna  during  the  week,  with  attendant  rain,  had  dis- 
persed. Even  Nature  had  wept  in  sympathy  with  the 
sorrow  of  the  people,  but  with  the  dawning  of  the  day 
of  September  4,  the  sun  in  all  its  glory  rose  to  gladden 
us  all,  so  we  could  see  a  symbol  of  the  work  yet  to  be 
done  at  Etna.  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  is  not  there  in  the  phys- 
ical, but  we  know  that  her  spirit  still  is  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  the  Camp,  and  will  inspire  others  to  carry 
forward  the  work  so  well  begun. 

Silently  the  crowds  assembled  for  the  services  dis- 
persed, and  the  memorable  day  at  Etna  drew  to  a  close. 


CHAPTER  XH. 

LECTURE  DELIVERED  BY 
REV.  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

At  Unity  Hall,  Hartford,  Conn.,  Sunday,  Feb.  4,  1912 

Under  the  Auspices  of  the 
Connecticut  State  Spiritualists'  Association 

SUBJECTS  GIVEN  BY  PERSONS  IN  THE  AUDIENCE 

"The  Origin  of  Man" 

"What  Is  the  Spiritualist's  Idea  of  Christ" 

"Are  Spiritualists  Living  Up  to  the  Knowledge 

of  Spiritualism?" 
"Lives  Made  Miserable  by  Others" 

The  first  subject  that  touches  us  and  seems  to  fill  us 
with  a  thought  of  infinitude  is  that  subject,  "The  Origin 
of  Man."  Turning  our  attention  back  to  the  very  be- 
ginning of  history,  to  the  very  first  investigation  along 
the  line  of  the  origin  of  man,  we  find  that  even  at  the 
present  day,  no  scientist  or  no  illumination  of  the  world 
has  proven  to  us  the  first  origin  of  man. 

Man,  as  far  as  he  is  considered  today,  is  a  trinity  in- 
deed. There  is  a  soul,  the  spirit  and  the  body.  The  body 
represents  to  us  the  mighty  temple,  imbued  by  the  spirit, 
that  it  may  convey  as  far  as  possible  the  outward  under- 
standing of  man's  spiritual  nature.  We  find  that  our 

118 


LECTURE  119 

body  has  come  up  through  a  long  line  of  numerous  cells 
of  matter  in  its  first  formative  principle.  We  can  almost 
turn  our  attention  back  to  the  cosmic  principle  of  life, 
when  there  was  naught  in  this  great  world  of  ours,  except 
three  great  principles.  Those  principles  were  Matter  and 
Force,  and  they  were  to  a  certain  extent  correlated  to- 
gether by  the  infinite  power  of  spirit. 

Spirit  always  has  been  the  manifestation  of  life.  When 
you  take  the  power  of  spirit  from  matter,  matter  is  inert 
or  dead.  Now  we  find  for  a  time  these  three  great  prin- 
ciples working  in  your  universe — Matter,  Spirit  and 
Force.  What  is  Matter?  Matter  is  that  principle,  or 
that  energy,  out  of  which  all  organic  bodies  are  com- 
posed. Force  is  the  medium  between  Matter  and  Spirit. 
Spirit  is  that  all-pervading  substance  that  has  existed  for 
all  time.  Now  we  find  that  there  came  a  law  when  there 
seemed  to  be  propelled  into  this  cosmic  universe  of  ours, 
the  might  power  of  heat,  and  following  that  there  came 
the  principle  of  light.  Now  we  have  the  five  principles 
— Spirit,  Force,  Matter,  Heat,  and  Light,  and  we  find 
that  the  greater  force  that  is  expended  in  any  process  of 
evolution  causes  a  greater  amount  of  matter  to  assume 
certain  forms;  first  we  found  them  consisting  of  certain 
cells  in  the  great  arcana  of  the  evolution  of  forces,  and 
secondly  we  find  that  we  have  the  caves  where  the  cave- 
men dwelt ;  then  the  sense  of  law  and  beauty,  and  a  face 
turned  from  the  sod — some  of  us  call  it  the  origin  of 
things;  some  of  us  evolution,  and  others  call  it  God. 

Nevertheless,  we  find  that  these  wonderful  elements 
or  principles  of  nature  continue  to  build,  and  the  more 
cells  they  build  the  more  harmonious  relationship  between 
these  cells,  and  consequently  other  cells  are  formed,  until 
we  have  the  animal  scale  of  existence;  and  then  we  find 
out  of  that  there  has  come  the  wonderful  power  of  a 
physical  and  intellectual  nation,  as  the  human  race,  or 
the  human  kingdom.  All  of  this  stands  upon  nature's 
broad  vista.  We  find  that  yonder  fish  may  have  a  certain 


120  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

amount  of  instinct,  so  that  it  does  not  always  pick  the 
hook  that  is  thrown  into  the  brook  by  the  fisherman.  We 
find  that  the  animals  have  a  certain  instinct  of  protection 
for  themselves.  We  find  that  man  stands  out  superior 
to  all  these,  because  he  has  powers  beyond  instinct — he 
has  something  beyond  these  things,  and  the  question  is: 
What  is  the  difference  and  what  is  this  that  makes  man 
the  living  thriving  creature  that  he  is,  with  the  mighty 
brain  power  that  he  portrays  through  the  wonderful  mind 
that  is  continually  developing  with  the  wonderful  power? 
Call  it  psychic,  or  spiritual,  but  it  is  the  real  man,  the  real 
ego,  that  stands  behind  your  body,  and  when  we  begin 
to  reach  this  realm,  we  begin  to  gain  the  realm  of  spiritual 
things,  and  consequently  we  find — what  ?  That  the  origin 
of  the  physical  man  began  away  back  in  the  time  we  have 
previously  told  you  of,  but  the  origin  of  the  soul  of  man 
has  never  had  a  beginning,  and  consequently  will  never 
have  an  ending.  That  the  physical  body  has  simply  been 
built  up  for  the  expression  of  this  spiritual  man. 

Will  you  tell  me  that  the  soul  is  a  result  of  bodily  pow- 
ers? I  tell  you  that  is  no  such  thing.  Man's  soul  has 
existed  somewhere  and  in  some  form  before  the  growth 
of  everything  that  is  expressing  the  evolution  of  nature. 
Look  with  me  a  moment  at  these  pinks  upon  the  table, 
and  you  find  they  express  what?  They  express  the 
mighty  scintillating  power  of  the  sun-ray.  Less  than 
fifty  years  ago,  if  you  asked  a  minister  on  any  public  plat- 
form what  caused  the  color  of  one  to  be  pink  and  the 
other  white,  he  would  tell  you  they  were  painted  by  the 
finger  of  Almighty  God,  but  we  have  grown;  we  have 
studied  theology,  we  have  studied  all  the  sciences  of  the 
day  and  hour,  and  we  have  found  the  finger  of  God  ex- 
pressed in  the  pink  is  the  gleam  of  a  sunbeam  that  has 
produced  their  colors. 

We  find  there  are  certain  elements  in  nature,  and 
whether  flowers  or  human  beings,  gather  to  ourselves 
those  things  that  are  part  of  our  existence  and  those 


LECTURE  121 

things  that  will  help  us  unfold  and  germinate.  When  we 
began  to  find  this,  there  was  a  knock  at  the  door  of  nature 
and  man  found  that  thousands  and  thousands  of  years  of 
expression  lay  dormant  in  Mother  Nature,  and  we  began 
to  feel  again  that  God  was  not  the  personal  being,  seated 
upon  a  throne,  who  looked  at  us  one  day  in  anger,  and 
the  next  in  love,  but  that  everything  was  originated  in 
the  great  economy  of  the  world  and  was  eternally  grow- 
ing, and  we  began  to  find  out  that  the  old  economic  idea 
of  the  origin  of  man,  the  old  idea  of  things,  was  not  true, 
and  in  its  place  we  have  put  the  great  hypothesis  of  the 
physical  unfoldment  and  development  of  man;  and  it  is 
the  hypothesis  that  will  stand  the  ultimate  triumph  of 
truth.  It  is  the  only  hypothesis  that  teaches  us  that  we 
are  not  only  spiritual  tomorrow  and  living  out  in  some 
other  realm,  but  we  are  spirits  today,  and  that  we  can 
touch  humanity  one  mile,  ten  miles  or  one  thousand  miles 
away  from  us,  if  we  understand  the  spiritual  law  govern- 
ing our  being,  and  this  is  the  mighty  philosophy  of  the 
spirit  and  we  no  longer  feel  that  we  do  not  live  hereafter, 
singing  psalms  and  having  complete  peace  and  rest.  There 
is  no  rest,  unless  that  rest  is  a  continual  rest  of  evolution 
from  the  lower  to  the  higher,  and  the  work  that  is  har- 
monious and  is  closely  related  to  spirit,  will  be  the  work 
that  we  have  been  accustomed  to  do  while  journeying 
here  in  the  physical  form. 

You  ask  me  what  the  Spiritualist's  idea  of  Christ  is. 
The  Spiritualist  holds  it  as  the  closest  thought.  We  do  not 
place  him  as  a  savior  of  the  world,  in  the  sense  that  you 
and  I  are  to  be  saved  by  his  blood,  but  he  is  our  elder 
brother.  He  was,  as  we  said  this  afternoon,  a  great 
Socialist  teacher,  a  great  leader  whom  the  spirit  world 
had  clothed  with  a  physical  body,  that  he  might  bring  his 
teachings,  the  teachings  of  the  higher  forces  of  the  spir. 
itual  world  to  a  waiting  people. 

Men  and  women  had  prayed  for  a  messiah,  a  messiah 
simply  for  bodily  wants,  a  messiah  simply  for  the  material 


122  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

things  of  life,  but  the  great  spirit  world  sent  a  messiah,  a 
savior  of  man's  spiritual  nature,  and  when  his  teachings 
were  rightly  understood  and  rightly  interpreted,  we  had 
a  spiritual  philosophy  exactly  as  the  Spiritualists  are 
preaching  today  from  every  rostrum  in  our  country  where 
Spiritualism  is  taught.  We  have  found  that  if  ever  the 
Master  gave  anything  to  the  world  he  put  the  everlasting 
label  of  {ruth  upon  mediumship,  because  it  always  was 
the  mediumship  of  the  Master  that  took  precedence  of  all 
other  things  connected  with  him,  as  far  as  cults  can  fol- 
low him  are  concerned. 

Look  with  me  just  for  a  moment  to  the  story  of  the 
Master,  when  Jerusalem  would  not  take  his  teachings 
unto  itself,  and  when  seemingly  outside  of  a  very  few, 
except  his  twelve  disciples,  he  had  no  one  that  understood 
him.  With  Spiritualism  surely  as  many  people  are  as 
cautious,  and  they  say: 

"Mrs.  Vanderbilt,  I  would  like  to  go  to  your  spiritual 
meeting ;  I  would  like  to  know  what  your  philosophy  is ; 
but  you  know  I  am  just  a  little  afraid  of  it,  and  some  of 
my  fellow  Church  members  might  hear  of  it ;  and  then  I 
live  on  such  a  fashionable  avenue,  and  Spiritualism  is  not 
popular." 

So  in  the  days  of  the  Master.  Nicodemus,  the  teacher, 
felt  in  his  soul  there  was  something  that  linked  himself 
with  the  mighty  truth  of  the  Master,  but  he  waited  until 
night  time  and  then  he  made  his  visit  after  truth.  Look 
at  me  for  a  moment  while  I  tell  you  the  story  that  is 
known  to  every  Bible  student  in  the  country,  the  story  of 
the  woman  at  the  well  of  Samaria.  It  was  not  the  spir- 
itual teaching;  it  was  not  the  sermon  on  the  Mount,  but 
it  was  the  men  and  women  toiling  with  bleeding  feet, 
whose  physical  bodies  were  going  to  decay ;  the  blind  men 
and  women  who  followed  the  Master,  to  touch  the  hem 
of  his  garment,  and  thus  he  turned  and  healed  them. 
Those  are  the  dead  letters  that  are  going  down  the  cor- 
ridors of  time.  It  is  not  the  belief  in  Jesus,  as  given  to 


LECTURE  123 

you  by  the  theological  teachings  of  the  religion  called 
Christianity.  Look  with  me  for  a  moment,  when  at  last 
he  had  fulfilled  his  work,  when  he  knew  that  no  longer 
would  he  be  able  to  hold  himself  in  his  physical  body; 
the  cry  of  the  enemy  about  him  had  become  so  great  that 
then  it  was,  he  was  made  miserable  by  others.  The 
Master's  life  was  made  miserable  by  others,  a  man  as 
peaceful  as  the  blue  lake  of  Galilee,  in  whose  waters  his 
disciples  fished.  An  individual  more  human  and  more 
divine  than  any  other  individual  that  has  ever  touched 
the  shores  of  time,  and  still  in  choosing  his  disciples  he 
was  not  far-sighted  enough  to  see  that  one  of  the  twelve 
would  betray  him,  and  so  in  the  human  life  today  there 
is  not  any  of  us  can  find  twelve  people  that  some  one  of 
them  will  not  betray  us  and  make  our  lives  miserable. 

After  Judas  had  come,  in  the  character  of  Judas 
Iscariot,  he  knew  if  the  great  power  of  gold  could  be 
played  on  the  sensibilities  of  that  man,  he  knew  that  his 
principles  were  not  strong  enough  to  withhold  the  won- 
derful power  of  a  few  pieces  of  silver,  and  he  knew  if 
anyone  told  of  the  inner  teachings  of  his  life,  if  anyone 
went  back  on  him,  it  would  be  a  man  like  Judas,  and  we 
find  that  Judas  did  betray  him,  and  in  that  hour  when  he 
was  taken  before  the  tribunal,  and  they  asked  why  they 
had  brought  him  there,  and  they  said,  now  if  you  have  any 
power,  tell  us  who  did  this  thing  and  you  shall  go  free. 
Oh,  but  in  that  mighty  hour  of  agony,  who  has  not  lived 
their  hour  of  agony,  when  some  friend  has  proved  treach- 
erous and  a  traitor,  and  when  some  of  our  motives  have 
been  misconstrued  and  so  turned  about  that  we  hardly 
recognize  ourselves  and  we  have  stood  dumb  and  mute 
before  the  accuser  and  slanderer,  when  we  knew  we  were 
innocent.  We  had  no  redress;  we  knew  we  were  inno- 
cent. So  in  the  hour  the  Master  stood,  in  the  face  of  the 
enemy,  with  not  a  controlling  voice. 

Like  the  mediums  in  Modern  Spiritualism,  people  will 
say  to  them:  "I  will  stand  by  you,"  and  other  people 


124  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

have  the  same  thing  said  to  them :  "If  any  trouble  comes 
I  will  uphold  you,  and  I  will  show  them  how  I  appreciate 
the  comfort  you  have  brought  to  me."  But  when  you 
have  been  in  your  hour  of  Gethsemane,  you  have  for- 
gotten it  and,  like  in  the  case  of  Jesus,  they  have  stood 
still  and  denied  us,  and  so  we  find  today  in  our  Modern 
Spiritualism,  that  men  and  women  come  and  demand  of 
the  mediums  the  things  they  want  to  know.  If  they  are 
told  101  things  that  are  just  as  true  as  the  one  thing  they 
wanted  to  know,  and  they  are  proven  to  be  true,  they  will 
cast  aside  the  101,  just  because  they  did  not  receive  just 
the  one  they  wanted ;  and  so  if  there  has  been  a  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Nazarene  that  manifestation  belongs  to  Mod- 
ern Spiritualism,  and  even  though  at  home  they  hold  com- 
munion with  their  souls,  and  whether  they  are  in  the 
work  before  the  world,  they  can  say  "Christ  is  my  elder 
brother;  Christ  is  my  pattern;  Christ  is  the  medium 
whose  mediumship  I  long  to  have  my  life  lighted  by." 

That  is  the  divine  principle  of  living,  and  then  we  say 
the  Master  forgave  his  enemies,  so  we  forgive  ours.  The 
Master  said :  "I  did  not  come  to  convert  the  good,  or  the 
godly,  but  the  ungodly,"  and  he  allowed  the  Pharisees  to 
judge  who  were  the  ungodly;  and  so  today  in  the  ranks 
of  Modern  Spiritualism  we  say  you  come  into  our  midst 
and  if  it  is  impossible  and  conditions  are  right,  perhaps 
someone  there  will  give  you  a  message  that  will  prove  the 
individuality  of  your  loved  ones. 

Modern  Spiritualism  says  to  you:  The  Master  said 
love  one  another.  And  so  we  take  their  motto;  it  is  a 
divine  principle.  Then  we  find  the  great  field  of  Social- 
ism opening  before  us,  and  we  see  there  is  no  text,  or 
creed,  or  dogma  needed,  but  that  one  that  is  as  old  as 
time  itself,  that  was  spoken  by  the  blue  river  of  the  Nile; 
the  wonderful  text  that  was  spoken  by  the  Ganges  long 
before  Buddha  was  born ;  the  mighty  text  that  was  spoken 
by  Zoroaster  while  the  fire  burned ;  the  mighty  text  that 
was  written  when  Confucius  was  compiling  their  sacred 


LECTURE  125 

Bible  for  unborn  generations;  the  text  that  again  fell 
from  the  illuminated  lips  of  the  Master,  when  he  said: 
Do  unto  others  that  they  should  do  unto  you. 

The  only  text  that  is  needed  in  this  world  is  to  make 
your  religion  true ;  to  practice  it  every  day  and  every 
hour  of  our  lives,  and  then  we  would  not  feel  as  if  we 
wanted  to  make  some  one  miserable,  because  they  are 
better  favored  in  the  world  than  we  are,  or  because  we 
are  jealous.  But  instead  of  that  we  will  be  glad  for  every 
upliftment  that  comes  to  every  human  being.  When  we 
meet  one  of  our  neighbors  with  a  better  dress  on  than 
ours,  we  will  not  say  her  husband  does  not  get  any  more 
money  than  mine ;  if  a  man  took  his  family  to  the  theater 
and  we  felt  that  we  could  not  take  our  family,  and  say, 
we  did  not  get  a  chance  to  get  at  the  cash  box.  We 
would  not  say  those  things.  We  would  say:  I  am  glad 
Mrs.  So-and-So  has  such  a  pretty  gown ;  I  am  glad  they 
have  found  the  ways  and  means;  I  am  glad  that  my 
brother  man  has  a  better  position  than  I  have.  Perhaps 
some  time  I  too  will  stand  on  another  round  of  the  lad- 
der and  I  will  be  able  to  do  what  he  is  doing,  and  if  we 
are  in  some  organization — an  organization  of  Spiritualists, 
for  instance — and  someone  is  elected  president  or  secre- 
tary, we  will  not  go  behind  his  back  and  say  he  is  no 
person  for  such  a  position;  that  he  will  make  no  kind  of 
a  president — but  we  will  say  we  are  going  to  work  with 
him  hand  in  hand  for  his  success;  we  are  going  to  show 
to  mankind  and  womankind  the  glorious  blessing  of 
brotherhood.  Then,  if  we  meet  in  some  of  the  club  rooms 
of  our  city,  and  we  study  political  science,  and  we  happen 
to  have  some  political  lines  stronger  than  the  fellow  next 
to  us,  and  we  find  there  is  something  in  someone  that  will 
make  him  a  good  statesman,  we  are  not  going  to  pull  him 
down;  and  if  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  life,  we  are  not 
going  to  proclaim  it  to  the  world ;  but  we  are  going  to  say 
he  is  more  of  a  man  for  the  mistake  he  has  made,  and 
we  are  going  to  send  him  to  Washington,  because  we 


126  MARY  S.  VANDERBILT 

know  he  is  going  to  make  good.  And  instead  of  talking 
scandal,  until  our  newspapers  are  filled  with  filth,  we  are 
going  to  look  for  the  good  in  humanity,  and  we  are  going 
to  forget  there  are  enemies  in  any  households  who  have 
made  the  tears  flow,  and  realize,  as  Spiritualists,  realize 
as  students  in  the  great  law  of  human  endeavor,  that  each 
and  every  one  of  us  are  going  to  be  known  as  we  really 
are,  and  we  are  not  going  to  receive  a  reward  because  we 
have  received  something,  but  because  we  have  done  some- 
thing. 

We  are  not  going  to  be  asked  whether  we  are  Catholic, 
Spiritualist  or  New  Thought.  We  are  going  to  be  asked 
what  our  deeds  are  and  whether  it  be  Robert  G.  Ingersoll, 
Heber  Newton,  or  Phillips  Brooks,  we  are  going  to  find 
that  they  have  their  place  there — and  we  are  going  to  be 
glad  to  know  that  in  the  world  of  soul  as  well  as  here  we 
are  to  live  and  unfold.  We  are  going  to  find  the  prin- 
ciples of  unfoldment,  and  we  are  going  to  be  angels  to- 
day, and  then  we  are  going  to  carry  angelhood  out  into 
the  aeons  of  eternity. 

Then,  we  are  going  to  live  as  we  should,  and  we  are 
going  to  progress  here,  now  and  always,  because  we  be- 
gin to  realize  the  divine  truth — that  whatever  the  origin 
of  life,  that  eternal  progression  is  the  destiny  of  man. 


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